Texas House apparently headed in different direction on illegal immigration issue

*On the surface, this is so unlike Texas. A Republican state legislator filed a bill to give driving permits to undocumented workers? While the Texas Senate talks about tightening the laws against the undocumented. But below the surface, this is about motives. Assigning the permits, according to Rep. Byron Cook, who filed the bill, has a specific reason: Right now, we have tens of thousands of people driving the roads in the state of Texas and we don’t know who they are; we don’t know where they live; (and) it is likely they don’t have insurance,” Cook said.  “So, it would be a much better policy to have these folks run through the database; make sure they don’t have criminal offenses; have them fingerprinted so we know who they are; where they live and more important for all of Texas: to make sure they have insurance because right now these folks are, for the most part, driving without insurance.”
This is more about keeping tabs on the undocumented than it is about anything else. Oh, and the headline? That was taken directly from Lubbock Online. VL

By Enrique Rangel, Lubbock Online

AUSTIN — What a sharp contrast.

While the Texas Senate is considering tough immigration legislation — including the so-called “sanctuary cities” bill Lubbock Republican Sen. Charles Perry filed — which have immigrant rights advocates and civil libertarians alarmed, in the House it may be an entirely different story.

Rep. Byron Cook, chairman of the influential House State Affairs Committee and a top lieutenant of House Speaker Joe Straus, filed a bill that — if the Legislature approves it and Gov. Greg Abbott signs it into law — would allow some undocumented immigrants to get driving permits.

The Corsicana Republican, who has represented his East Texas district for 12 years and has chaired State Affairs for the last three sessions, said he filed House Bill 4063 for pragmatic reasons.

“Right now, we have tens of thousands of people driving the roads in the state of Texas and we don’t know who they are; we don’t know where they live; (and) it is likely they don’t have insurance,” Cook said.

Click HERE to read the full story.