mr. chairman , the most troubling aspect of this bill is that related to asylum . 
today 's laws for seeking asylum are the result of lessons learned after world war ii . 
after the war , america reflected with shame on how this shining beacon of democracy and freedom turned its back on 1 , 000 jews who fled for their lives on the ship called the st . 
louis . 
we turned the st . 
louis away , not even allowing it to dock in america . 
it is estimated that over half of those refugees eventually died . 
today , in haiti , cuba and other countries , thousands face death , religious persecution , torture and property confiscation . 
this bill virtually closes the door to those who might seek asylum in america . 
let us not forget the lessons of history . 
i urge my colleagues to keep the doors open to those seeking justifiable refuge . 
regarding driver 's licenses , the 9/11 tragedy has been referred to here on this floor referencing the terrorists who obtained driver 's licenses . 
let me remind my colleagues that this bill would not affect that situation at all , as all of the terrorists were in this country legally and could have obtained driver 's licenses regardless of this law . 
we should heed what florida governor jeb bush said last year when he was talking about driver 's licenses for illegal immigrants . 
he said , `` we should n't allow them to come into the country to begin with , but once they 're here , what do you do ? 
do you basically say that they are lepers to society , that they do not exist ? 
`` he concluded by saying , `` a policy that ignores them is a policy of denial. '' i agree and i urge my colleagues to vote against this bill . 
