Saturday May 26, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Honda employee cited for breaking Alabama immigration law

Crime Dec. 01, 2011 - 03:27PM JST ( 35 )

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

Order by Time Order by Popularity

35 Comments

5

DenTok2009Dec. 01, 2011 - 08:01AM JST

Hmmm... was the employee on a tourist visa? What's up with not recognizing an international driver's license?
6

MaboDofuIsSpicyDec. 01, 2011 - 09:12AM JST

What do you expect from an Alabama cop. They do not even know what an international license is.

Back to chitlings soup and doughnuts for lunch.
0

Leila26Dec. 01, 2011 - 09:37AM JST

The US has huge problems with illegals. It is understandable that there would be some problems.
Japanese are not notorious for breaking US laws.
-4

AqualungDec. 01, 2011 - 10:40AM JST

A passport and an international driving permit doesn't make you legal. I expect that the police had some training to determine if someone overstayed.
2

Elbuda MexicanoDec. 01, 2011 - 10:44AM JST

Mabidofu! You done took them words right of my mouth there!! Yee haw!!
1

DenTok2009Dec. 01, 2011 - 11:24AM JST

The article doesn't say the Japanese man overstayed. The Alabama cop probably got lucky. I mean the Japanese guy could have simply said he was in the area visiting when questioned. How can the copper prove the Japanese guy was actually working at the Alabama plant? Illegals caught at factories are done in by the social security numbers they provide.
1

Bebert61Dec. 01, 2011 - 12:04PM JST

I would bet the police are under the same orders as the TSA agents that are screening 80-year-old ladies for underwear bombs at the airport: no racial profiling. Everyone gets checked. The law is new and the bugs need to be worked out. The auto plants will need to come to an arrangement with the state government so their foreign workers are easily identified as legal and not harassed.
0

ElvensilvanDec. 01, 2011 - 12:09PM JST

Probably the Japanese national on business trip is one of the big-time executives here in Japan that could speak little English.

Having a passport and International Driver's License might have taken him off the hook if he could explain his predicament right there on the roadblock.
3

Elbuda MexicanoDec. 01, 2011 - 12:58PM JST

Jon! Very good comment but you can't compare armpit Alabama with cosmopolitan California! Right??
1

MaboDofuIsSpicyDec. 01, 2011 - 01:41PM JST

Jon who Mexicano Hombre?

Will have to look up this new law.
0

sillygirlDec. 01, 2011 - 05:02PM JST

gotta obey the law of the land where you live or visit. we have to here in japan.
0

LFRAgainDec. 01, 2011 - 08:24PM JST

"I expect that the police had some training to determine if someone overstayed."

I doubt this very sincerely.
0

ThonTaddeoDec. 01, 2011 - 09:40PM JST

How long does Alabama (or other US states) let people drive with international licenses? I was under the impression that it was indefinite, which is why people were so upset when Japan unilaterally decided to restrict international licenses to one year.

(Discrimination against actual international drivers, as I recall, was secondary to the real goal of protecting the NPA-run licensing racket, which costs Japanese learners hundreds of thousands of yen, inspiring many of them to learn to drive while studying abroad and then to come back to Japan and use their foreign licenses.)

My guess is that the cop had never seen an international license or thought that the Honda employee was operating a car unlicensed and was trying to pull some kind of scam. There was a similar one in the US back in the '80s with Japanese people driving and showing their health insurance cards to non-Japanese-reading cops who would fall for the ruse.

Also IIRC, when driving abroad, you have to be carrying your home license along with the international license for it to be valid to drive. If the Honda employee had only his passport and the international license, technically he was in the wrong even if his international license was valid. If that's what caught the cop's attention, that was a pretty good catch for so rare an event. If the man did have his home license along with the valid international one, then the cop was mis-informed about how international licenses work.

And the headline is wrong: this incident has nothing to do with illegal immigration; it's about being licensed to drive.
0

TahoochiDec. 02, 2011 - 01:45AM JST

ThonTaddeoDec. 01, 2011 - 09:40PM JST

And the headline is wrong: this incident has nothing to do with illegal immigration; it's about being licensed to drive.

Thank you. That's what I thought too. What does this have to do with illegal immigration JT? The more I read this article, the more it puzzles me. What is this article about??? What exactly was this guy ticketed with? Why are we reading about a Japanese guy getting a traffic ticket overseas? Why is this news?
-1

BurakuminDesDec. 02, 2011 - 01:56AM JST

Yikes - it seems Japanese folk are now joining the Mexicans and others in entering and attempting to work in the US illegally. As a 7-year veteran of Japan, I realise things are really bad here now, families going to the wall day-to-day by the thousands - I admit that - but is it really bad enough yet to lead to illegal emigration out of Japan? Gee whiz, I hope not.
0

bajhista65Dec. 02, 2011 - 03:27AM JST

@Aqualung...... Japanese has a diplomatic treaty with USA regarding visa and so with USA to Japan. Americans come and go to Japan without a visa. I even know lots of Americans come and go to Japan to work without a working visa status. Leave Japan after 3 months then come back Japan again.. Hahahaha I am sure, Honda Co. in Alabama knows visa requirements for employing a foreign national. Maybe the policemen belongs to the Ku-Kluks-Klan. They hate blacks and foreigners. =))
2

BalefireDec. 02, 2011 - 09:11AM JST

I once had a California Highway Patrol officer pull me over early in the morning near San Jose, an area of California that even then ('84) had lots of folks, many Japanese, driving with international licences. The patrolman very was ready to cite me for having an expired licence, because he took the issue date for the expiration date; at the time the caption was only in Japanese, although most of the rest of the licence was in English as well. I managed to persuade him, but I might not have done so well had I been a Japanese with limited English language skills. Perhaps something of the kind took place in this Alabama case.
1

DenTok2009Dec. 02, 2011 - 11:48AM JST

Burakumin... Hell---ooo! The guy was there on temporary assignment. According to the article, this was not a guy who decided to pull up stakes and reinvent himself in the states. The guy is on temporary assignment from Japan so Honda Japan should've done the paperwork for a work visa; guess they decided not to or the Alabama plant needed his expertise and wanted him to hop on the plane quick to help them out. Honda Japan may have even decided to reward the guy with a trip to the states and oh by the way can you stop by one of our plants so you could blah blah blah.
0

brknarmDec. 02, 2011 - 12:24PM JST

Perhaps it was nothing more than the driver not having his JP license, as the article says. That's been my experience when driving on an international license, I was instructed to carry both.
0

village idiotDec. 02, 2011 - 12:35PM JST

And the headline is wrong: this incident has nothing to do with illegal immigration; it's about being licensed to drive.

Thank you. That's what I thought too. What does this have to do with illegal immigration JT? The more I read this article, the more it puzzles me. What is this article about??? What exactly was this guy ticketed with? Why are we reading about a Japanese guy getting a traffic ticket overseas? Why is this news?

It's because this is related to the new anti-immigration laws that Alabama recently passed. Alabama is following Arizona in trying to create its own immigration policy. Prior to the new laws, this person would have simply been given a citation. Now, he must appear in court. The article explains this.
0

borschtDec. 02, 2011 - 01:50PM JST

I was under the impression that it was indefinite, which is why people were so upset when Japan unilaterally decided to restrict international licenses to one year.

Last time I used an international license in the US I was told it was good for only one year.
0

Al StewartDec. 02, 2011 - 02:08PM JST

Alabama sucks sometimes (but what state doesnt lol). But i feel his company is partially to blame for not being more responsible in have all the information necessary for this type of situation. The driver should not be in court, but his company should for this situation.
-1

ka_chanDec. 02, 2011 - 03:59PM JST

If Honda has a plant in AL, they are just nuts...that goes for Toyota and their MS plant. They deserve all the jail time they get...
1

ambrosiaDec. 02, 2011 - 05:07PM JST

The article doesn't state that the Honda employee didn't have a valid visa so I don't know where readers are getting that from. Neither does it say he couldn't speak English, so any rude, presumptuous comments to the contrary are simply uncalled for. I guarantee you that Honda employees go through language training before they are sent overseas. They also go through seminars on cultural aspects as well aa the laws of the country to which they may be moving. Not having a proper license would've most likely been the fault of the worker not the company. Alabama is shooting itself in the foot with some of its new immigration policies. Companies such as Honda are important to their economy and if they think operating in Alabama is becoming more trouble than it's worth, they'll pull up stakes and move elsewhere.
0

ambrosiaDec. 02, 2011 - 05:17PM JST

Honda workers do not just "hop on planes quick to help them out". They go through the proper channels to get work visas for their employees being sent on overseas assignments and don't let them go until they have them, even if that means the workers have to wait longer than expected. It's really confusing as to where some of the posters here get their information or why they feel need to spout such vitriol.
1

CrazyJoeDec. 02, 2011 - 06:23PM JST

The charges will be dropped anyway.
-1

AqualungDec. 02, 2011 - 06:44PM JST

I find it hard to believe that this would be in the news if his paperwork was in order. Passports clearly state when you arrive in a country and how long you can stay. The driving permit is irrelevant to the discussion.
3

ambrosiaDec. 02, 2011 - 09:13PM JST

From the Miami Herald:

"The worker, whose name wasn't released, was stopped by Leeds police at a license checkpoint on a highway Monday night.

Police Chief Byron Jackson says the man showed police an international driver's license, a valid passport and a Social Security card that allowed him to work in the U.S. But under Alabama's new law, called one of the country's toughest, he was required to carry either an Alabama license or a license from Japan.

Jackson says a municipal judge dismissed the case Thursday when the man's attorney presented his Japanese driver's license in court."

The driving permit is the only relevant point to this story. A little research could've found you the same information and avoided incorrect speculation.
1

notasapDec. 03, 2011 - 02:15AM JST

The crops are rotting in the fields of Alabama because the leadership of that state has decided to take card out of Hitler’s bunker and go down in some conservative Gotterdammerung. Demographics are changing in the US and the GOP is going to be buried next to the Whigs in the next century because they have traded pragmatic conservativism to radical race oriented extremism. Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi have leaders and a large percentage of their population that is still fighting the US Civil War or as I like to call it the War of Southern Treachery. These people would be just as fervently defending the legality of the poll tax and literacy test if those specific racist obstacles to public interaction had not been struck down by a more even keeled SCOTUS.
0

Badge213Dec. 03, 2011 - 08:27AM JST

Judged dismissed the case:

From other news sources:

> A judge has acted to put a Japanese employee of Honda Motor Company out of his misery by dismissing immigration charges against him, three days after he was booked under Alabama's new immigration laws that have been billed as the most swingeing in America. Ichiro Yada is one of about 100 Japanese managers of the company on assignment in southern state

Yada was stopped in Leeds, Alabama, at a checkpoint set up by police to catch unlicenced drivers. He was ticketed on the spot, despite the fact that he showed an international driver's licence, a valid passport and a US work permit.
0

knowitallDec. 03, 2011 - 08:50AM JST

he was required to carry either an Alabama license or a license from Japan

If you use a international driver's permit, you are required to carry your home country license as well. The IDP is merely a translation. The original article statement that Alabama doesn't recognize the IDP is probably incorrect. It may not recognize it for resident aliens, but unless Alabama can invalidate treaties the federal government signed, tourists should not have any problems (provided they remember to bring their home country license).
0

China SailorDec. 03, 2011 - 01:02PM JST

Until recently, the lack of a license would have merited a mere traffic ticket—but in late September, Alabama approved a state law authorizing police to detain foreigners suspected of being illegal immigrants after committing an infraction.

And what does this ALL MEAN...?

Absolutely NOTHING to him.... He was in the country legally.. It's only a technicality... It's like the difference between and ordnance and a law... As far as he's concerned, it doesn't mean anything... It will have NO effect on him immigrating to the U.S. or traveling in the U.S. PERIOD... It's a traffic ticket, as far as the U.S. Gov't is concerned.

Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill...

I thought the story was going to say, he was immediately arrested and deported back to Japan..
0

Badge213Dec. 03, 2011 - 02:04PM JST

It's funny, because lets say he did have his Japanese license with him and no IDP how on earth is some Alabama cop going to read kanji it or even confirm it? Might as well show a mickey mouse passport from disneyland. Also the law isn't very clear as reported here, it says Alabama license or license from another country, but doesn't say anything about a license issued by another state. Though it's probably a misquote of the actual law.

Remember the scene from the movie black rain where Michael Douglas transfers the prisoner to the fake cops at the airport, the fake cop gives him the "transfer papers" written entirely in Japanese, but it later turns out to be insurance application papers.

Actually it does mean something because things like that in the past would just merit a simple infraction, however he was detained, and the only reason he probably didn't go to jail was because there was a magistrate who happened to be in the area at the same time, now I don't know how AL law works, but he was able to be bonded on site and released.

Anyway all this doesn't matter anymore as an Alabama judge has thrown out the ticket and it's another black eye for Alabama. Maybe those companies should look into moving their businesses into the neighboring state.
0

Elbuda MexicanoDec. 04, 2011 - 02:48AM JST

Armpit Alabama is just shooting itself in the foot!! Let their crops rot in the fields! See who is gonna do their dirty work! And not so dirty work?? I'm sure this Japanese dude must be an engineer etc...
0

OssanAmericaDec. 04, 2011 - 04:49AM JST

"How long does Alabama (or other US states) let people drive with international licenses? I was under the impression that it was indefinite, which is why people were so upset when Japan unilaterally decided to restrict international licenses to one year."

Don't know where you get your information but International Drovers lIcenses issued in the United States by the AAA have been valid for one year for as long as I can remember. Additionally, Internatinal Drivers lIcenses must always be accompamied by the actual Drivers License of your home country, not your passport, to be valid. This is stated on all International drivers licenses on the last page in the language of the country where issued.