Thread: Colorado mistakenly sends valid driver's licenses to illegal immigrants

Sounds fishy to me.


Colorado mistakenly sends valid driver's licenses to illegal immigrants

BY KEITH COFFMAN
DENVER
Fri Sep 12, 2014

(Reuters) - More than 500 illegal immigrants in Colorado mistakenly received driver's licenses or photo identification cards intended for U.S. citizens because of a vendor's printing error, the company and state officials said on Friday.
Colorado began issuing licenses to non-citizens in August under a law approved this year by state lawmakers and supported by law enforcement.

Advocates argued that letting undocumented residents receive valid licenses would make the state's roads safer, as applicants would need to pass a driving test and buy automobile insurance.

The license states on its face that it cannot be used as identification allowing the holder to vote, as a form of federal identification, nor to apply for government benefits.

The vendor, MorphoTrust, said in a statement that 524 cards were printed as if they were identification cards or licenses for Colorado residents who are U.S. citizens.

The company said it discovered the error three days after it began printing the credentials last month. "The cause of this was a software update error," the firm said.

Colorado Department of Revenue spokeswoman Daria Serna said the state took "action immediately" after learning of the error.

"The Department of Motor Vehicles correctly issued the temporary state card to the customer, it was the vendor that issued the incorrect permanent state card," she said.

Since the program was implemented, the state has issued 1,646 driver's licenses, 343 learner's permits and 327 photo identification cards to illegal immigrants, she said.

Under the law, applicants must show they live in Colorado, have filed a state income tax return, and provide proof of their identity from their country of origin.

Additionally, they must swear an affidavit saying that they already have applied, or will apply, for citizenship.

The company said it has notified the recipients of the invalid documents, and it will replace them with the proper ones after the erroneous ones are turned in.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0H72LI20140912

September 12, 2014

DENVER (CBS4) - Colorado’s Department of Motor Vehicles mistakenly issued U.S. citizen driver’s licenses to 524 non-citizens, including some illegal immigrants, CBS4 has learned.

The licenses look like those given to state residents. The DMV blamed a software problem at a contractor, who is working with DMV to retrieve the licenses and re-issue correct IDs.

The licenses were mailed at the beginning of September. The contractor said it learned on Sept. 8 that the printing error occurred Aug. 8.

“What happened is there was a software update error on the part of the vendor,” said Director of Dept. of Revenue Barbara Brohl.

The DMV said Friday that drivers left its offices with correct temporary licenses, but the contractor later mailed the incorrect permanent licenses.

The contractor emailed the recipients of the licenses on Friday to ask for the licenses back. The contractor will issue the correct credential, it said, along with a gift card to compensate the individuals affected.

Colorado lawmakers passed a law that took effect Aug. 1 that grants licenses to non-citizens to improve public safety by making sure that all drivers in the state, regardless of their status, are licensed. They are marked, however, with a black strip that reads “Not Valid For Federal Identification, Voting or Public Benefit Purposes.”

“If they don’t send the licenses back we’ll go into Plan B and we’ll figure that out but we will be getting them all back,” said Brohl.

When the DMV announced it would issue appointments to non-citizens to receive licenses, calls and online orders deluged its offices. Tens of thousands reportedly contacted the DMV to register for the new ID, apparently clogging the system. On July 1, the first day it began offering appointments, the DMV scheduled 823, more than 100 an hour during office hours.

“The worry that I have, now that I’ve learned about this, is people could show up to register and vote the same day and their driver’s licenses don’t have that indicator,” said Secretary of State Scott Gessler.

Those in the country illegally or without a Social Security number are eligible for the license if they prove they live in Colorado and pay taxes. Those in the country illegally must prove they have applied for citizenship.

“It puts us in a bind to scramble to get that thing fixed,” said Gessler.

“It is my plan to get these back and to get them back before the election,” said Brohl.

Gabriela Flora, an immigration community advocate who lobbied for the law, said in July the DMV expected 45,000 applicants the first year.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/09/1...nses-dmv-says/