www.kentucky.com

Posted on Sun, Aug. 14, 2005

COMMENTARY

Being targeted at the driver's license office

By Merlene Davis
HERALD-LEADER COLUMNIST

Dr. Suvas Desai, a urologist who has lived in the United States since 1967 and in Lexington since 1972, was a bit put out when he went to renew his driver's license recently.

Because he answered "no" when asked if he was born in the U.S., he had to produce his passport to renew his license.

A native of India but a naturalized U.S. citizen, Desai said he understands his looks might trigger heightened scrutiny alerts since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

He just wants everyone, not just people with dark complexions, to undergo the same validation process.

When the clerk behind the counter of the driver's license branch office on Regency Road in Lexington asked Desai if he was a U.S. citizen, he said yes.

"But she said because I was not born over here, I'd have to show her other identification.

"I had my passport with me, but I did not show her initially. I didn't think I had to because I told her I was a U.S. citizen.

"This was not asked of the other individuals who were standing behind me," Desai continued. "In fact, I asked her if some of the other people here would be asked for the same identification, and she said no."

Jan Songer, a supervisor at the Regency Road driver's license office where Desai had gone, said anyone born in a foreign country must now produce a passport and proof of citizenship before license renewal. Those restrictions began in July 2004. "We have to go by what they tell us in Frankfort," she said.

The requirements are a direct result of the terrorist attacks in 2001. The Sept. 11 Commission recommended the federal government set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and identification sources such as a driver's license.

In essence, Songer said, the driver's license bureau officials are being asked to act as detectives, doing work that might be better placed in the hands of immigration officials.

Last year, those receiving a driv-er's license for the first time in Kentucky were required to bring their Social Security card, birth certificate and proof of current residency. Their information is then verified with the Social Security Administration.

That includes those who had lived in other states, even if they had valid licenses.

Songer said most of the people asked to provide proof of citizenship at the Regency Road facility "are the ones who have the accents."

"We don't make everybody just because they have dark skin to go back to get a birth certificate," Songer said. "It's a shame people feel like they are being singled out," she said, "but we've been lied to before."

Proof of citizenship is also asked of those who move to Kentucky from another state, Songer said.

With the passage of the federal Real ID Act in May, getting a license is going to be tougher for everyone, starting in 2008.

Identity cards, which some say could cost as much as $100 because of the added requirements and safety measures, will be required not only for drivers, but also for anyone visiting a federal government building, collecting Social Security or other federal government service, or even at a bank or with an airline that federal law requires to verify identities.

And that's fine with Desai.

"For security purposes, it is an absolute must after 9/11," he said. "But it should be uniform for everybody, including the people who are caucasian or Anglo Saxon-looking.

"My experience was not very good," said Desai, who went with a friend. "I asked more questions in a polite fashion than others might have done. But they were impatient with me, and the supervisor was downright rude to me."

Desai's friend, also of Indian descent, had to go home to retrieve his passport and was late for work.

Songer said she remembers two men who were very rude to her. But she can understand why some might think they are being discriminated against.

"I don't know what else we could do," she said. "My granddaughter is biracial, and I wouldn't want her to feel like she is discriminated against."

Desai said he simply wants everyone to be treated equally.

"My patients like me, and with God's grace, I have a good practice," he said.

"There are a lot of good things about the United States, and I love this country. That is why I am a citizen.

"But we have to speak up when things are not right."

That we do.

Having white skin and no accent did not make Timothy McVeigh, who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City, any less a threat to national security.

We all want safety. We just have to find a more equitable means of providing it.

Maybe a loss of rights for all of us in three years will ease the sting of the profiling some are experiencing now.