Florida Officials Gave Commercial Driver’s Licenses to Illegals; Arrests Made

By Selwyn Duke

Call them 18-wheeler and dealers — or just call them criminal and dangerous. But if you’re wondering why some semi-truck drivers today don’t seem very skilled and may not even speak English, wonder no more. Because, it has been revealed, some Florida officials were giving illegal aliens commercial driver’s licenses in exchange for bribes. This means, of course, that these migrants were circumventing the testing process and have no proven qualifications.

What’s more, the uncovered scheme centered around just one Sunshine State county. Similar scams are presumably operative in additional counties and other states — especially “blue” states with high illegal-alien populations.

Not Quite Maximum Overdrive, but Maximal Corruption

The Panama City News Herald reported on the story last Friday, writing:

Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford on June 12 announced the arrest of eight people in connection to a local scandal involving driver’s licenses being fraudulently issued.

According to a BCSO [Bay County Sheriff’s Office] news release, the investigation began May 20 after “suspicious driver’s license transactions” were discovered. It found that two employees of the Bay County Tax Collector’s office were being bribed to provide licenses to people who did not meet the requirements to obtain them.

“The investigation substantiated that two public employees were issuing licenses to aliens with varying legal statuses without providing the required testing,” Ford said during a news conference.

“These weren’t minor shortcuts,” Ford said. “These were intentional acts of corruption where individuals paid bribes in exchange for skipping critical safety evaluations. … Putting untested, unqualified drivers, especially those with commercial licenses, on our roads is an unacceptable risk to every family in this state.”

The local DMV employees arrested were Bancelie Velazco, 37, and Demetrius Smith, 30. Both are Panama City residents.

“Investigators learned (Velazco and Smith) were indeed issuing an unusually large number of driver’s licenses and, when in-house video at the DMV was reviewed, investigators confirmed the individuals receiving the licenses were bypassing the required tests necessary to lawfully receive a license,” the release reads. “These individuals were coming from across the state of Florida to Bay County to receive the driver’s licenses.”

In fact, a “large number” of licenses is an understatement because, apparently, the two officials really jumped the corruption shark. For example, as American Thinker’s Wendi Strauch Mahoney tells us:

Smith reportedly administered 295 driving tests in a single month — far above the average of about 20 to 25.

A Wider Operation

That Velazco and Smith were so brazen may indicate that they’d been running their scam for a very long time. (The longer people get away with criminality, the more complacent and bold they become.)

In this vein, too, approximately $120,000 was seized from the arrested employees’ homes as illicit proceeds. What’s more, Velazco even deposited into her bank account sums exceeding what her salary could justify.

The BCSO provides more details, writing:

It was also learned that the individuals coming to Velazco and Smith to obtain their [driver’s licenses] were doing so through a third party operating as intermediaries and were paying Velazco and Smith either in person at the DMV or online through a cash app. … Some of the intermediaries were not individuals but organizations like CubaMax, located in Callaway in Bay County. CubaMax is a company that processes immigration documents. CubaMax acted as a referral source for those seeking to obtain driver’s licenses fraudulently, directing them to the local DMV. A search warrant was executed at CubaMax to obtain evidence of this scheme.

As to these intermediaries, they include, writes Mahoney:

• Niurbis Rosales, owner of immigration document services firm CubaMax in Callaway, Fla., charged with 24 counts of fraud and 24 counts of official misconduct;
• CubaMax employee Zoila Gonzalez-Pena; and
• Leonardo Gutierrez, Hung Du, and Isbreita Parra. Each faces multiple counts tied to license fraud.

The Consequences of a Globalist Spirit

As mentioned earlier, the logical assumption is that such schemes are operational in many parts of our country. The problems this causes are many, too. For instance, Mahoney points out that “AmericanTruckers.com calls the scheme ‘labor or wage dumping.’” Likening it to “steel dumping,” the website states that it makes it harder for qualified domestic workers to get jobs.

AmericanTruckers.com also emphasizes a national security issue, writing:

Just as a reliance on foreign steel can be a national security issue, particularly in times of conflict or when supply chains are disrupted, the reliance on foreign truck drivers who might not have the same level of investment or loyalty to the U.S. can compromise the logistics network’s reliability and security. This is especially critical in scenarios requiring swift and dependable domestic logistics.

And Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier pointed out that this is another example of how “the Biden border policy puts American families at risk.” In reality, though, the problem predates Biden (who did greatly exacerbate it). This brings us to a point, too.

Some will say, “Why are we deporting illegals with ‘no criminal record’?” This story illustrates why.

Not a Victimless Crime

Having tens of millions of illegals (the reality) in America for decades ensures the development of an underground employment market. This creates incentives to engage in various forms of illegality to facilitate illegals’ employment — including the license fraud in question. The moral: Illegal aliens beget illegal actions.

Another example of this, too, is the American soldiers recently found guilty of the human trafficking of illegals. The New American reported on this just today.

Speaking of incentives, however, part of the issue is that power-seeking politicians have reasons to keep illegals in the U.S. That is, noncitizens are counted during the Census, and their presence gives the states harboring them more congressional representation. (This, not to mention that the Democrats believe they’ll become future left-wing voters.)

And what if some Americans are killed by the illegals — including on our roads? Those are just eggs for omelets, citizen.

For those interested, a news report on the Florida arrests can be watched below.

                  This article was originally published at The New American.