The Senate immigration bill as it currently stands will allow an illegal alien with two convictions “for driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated” to be granted legal status in this country.
If the alien is not then convicted of a third DUI after passage of the bill and before he is naturalized, he will remain eligible to eventually become a U.S. citizen.
And, even if an alien has been convicted of three or more DUIs, the bill allows the secretary of homeland security to waive the 2-DUI limit for illegal aliens seeking legalization if she believes it is “for humanitarian purposes, to ensure family unity, or if such a waiver is otherwise in the public interest.”
The bill brands an alien as a “habitual drunk driver” only after the alien has incurred three DUIs.
However, each of these three DUI convictions must be for an offense that happened on a separate date. Thus, theoretically, if an illegal alien were caught driving under the influence at 12:01 a.m one day, then went home and slept it off, then went out and got caught for driving under the influence again at 11:59 p.m. on the same day, he would only be counted as having one DUI under the Senate immigration bill.
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s summary of the bill put it this way:
