Los Angeles no longer wants to impound the vehicles of people who are caught driving without a license. They don’t explicitly say so, but the overwhelming majority of people cruising the streets of L.A. without licenses are illegal aliens, and it has long been the city’s policy not to do anything that might inconvenience illegal aliens.
Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Newton thinks the policy being promoted by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck is a great idea. “Beck’s approach strikes me as humane and sensible,” he wrote. Two days later, Newton followed up with a second column disdainful of those who wrote to disagree with him and describing driving without a license as a “trivial offense.”
For L.A. County resident Don Rosenberg, driving without a license is anything but trivial and Beck’s policy is anything but “humane and sensible.” Rosenberg’s son was killed by an unlicensed driver, and a repeat offender at that. His poignant response should be read by everyone – especially Chief Beck – who believes that we need to bend the rules to accommodate illegal aliens.