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 .  