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Last week, the Austin American-Statesman ran an unintentionally terrific story headlined, “Texas DMV plan to tighten ID for car registrations draws backlash.”

Last week, the Texas DMV announced a rule change requiring proof of citizenship to register a car in the Lone Star State. “While the proposal is popular among some voters,” the Statesman admitted, “it would make it effectively impossible for Texans without legal immigration status to register a car.” Poor babies.

And, “Texans without legal immigration status?” The article made it sound like they just forgot to pay their most recent Hulu bill or something.

Popular among some voters. The alert reader might rightly wonder: among which voters this proposal wasn’t popular? The answer quickly emerged: car dealers. In his testimony at Wednesday’s rules hearing, Dallas auto dealer Octavio Vasquez argued that it shouldn’t be the dealer’s job to enforce immigration law. “My job is: Sell the car, collect the money, submit the tax money to the state,” Vasquez said. “We don’t care if they carry papers. That’s none of my business.”

Previously, before this rule change, county tag offices could accept a wide range of identification documents, including expired foreign passports or a note from an amigo.