Thread: Firms sell sham drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants

Firms sell sham drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants
Friday, July 17, 2009
BY DANIEL CONNOLLY
NorthJersey.com

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Some businesses in Tennessee and nearby states are openly selling worthless driver’s licenses to immigrants in a scam that’s become so widespread some companies have begun accepting the fake documents as identification.

The sham licenses are especially appealing to illegal immigrants, who can’t obtain a real driver’s license because of state laws and may lack identification of any kind.

Authorities say some Hispanic-owned businesses in Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee have been selling the fake licenses. They also can be purchased online.

Patrolman Edgardo Solero of the Memphis Police Department says about 60 percent of the Hispanic drivers he pulls over are carrying the sham licenses. "

And they’re under the impression that those licenses are good," he said. "Because that’s what they’re being led to believe."

The sellers exploit that by running big color ads in local Spanish-language newspapers that urge people to pay as much as $100 for a document called the licencia internacional, or international driver’s license.

"You can drive anywhere in the world tomorrow," one ad for a storefront business in Memphis promised.

But holders of the international driver’s license run the risk of charges if they’re stopped on the road without a real license issued by a U.S. state or their home country.

Solero, who is from Puerto Rico and gives crime prevention talks in English and Spanish, says he confiscates the sham licenses and charges the motorists with driving without a license if they don’t have another one.

The international driver’s license has no value as identification, he said. "When they get these licenses done, they could have given any name," he said. "It’s a business, and it’s an illegal business."

Memphis police don’t enforce immigration law, but Nashville law enforcement works closely with federal immigration authorities. Memphis attorney Elaine Witty said she’s representing a handful of immigrants who face deportation after showing an international driver’s license to officers in the Nashville area.

Many of the people running the driver’s license scam are immigrants themselves.

"People with the same heritage are victimizing one another, and it’s not right and it’s not fair," said Special Agent C.M. Sturgis, a Memphis FBI spokesman.

Sturgis said he once went with another agent to tell a business to stop selling the documents. But the FBI has other priorities and doesn’t usually pursue these cases, he said. And a Federal Trade Commission spokeswoman said the agency hasn’t pursued a seller of international driver’s licenses since 2003.

In Memphis, the businesses that sell the documents usually provide a wide range of other services, from translations to helping immigrants buy license plates.

Jose Angel Hernandez, owner of one Memphis business that was closed after a law-enforcement raid earlier this year, said in a phone interview that the international driver’s license is simply a translation of a person’s license from their home country. He didn’t answer most of the fraud allegations directly, and repeatedly told a reporter to look at another business.

"You should go to the office of El Grafico Services, where they’re making those documents right now," he said in Spanish.

El Grafico Services LLC, sells everything from cell phones to satellite dishes at stores around the area. Owner Arturo Granada also publishes a Spanish-language newspaper, El Grafico, which often advertises the documents.

Granada wrote in an e-mail that his stores review the applicant’s data, including a valid license from another country, and send the information to Alabama for processing by a group called The International Automobile Driver’s Clan.

Granada said his company never claims that the international driving document replaces a government-issued license. Instead, he says it’s a translation that must be accompanied by a valid license from the person’s home country. He also said the practice is covered by international treaty.

Luis Allegro, a representative of the International Automobile Driver’s Clan in Birmingham, said the company translates foreign driver’s licenses but doesn’t claim to sell an "international driver’s license."

"Most people make a mistake and they put an ad in the paper that says international driver’s license," he said. He strongly denied the business is a fraud. "We do not lie to people," he said.

He described the Birmingham office as a dealer for the main office in New York City. That company does use the words "international driver’s license" on its Web site, iadc-club.com.

The International Automobile Driver’s Clan isn’t approved by the U.S. State Department to issue international driver’s permits, which travelers present along with their government-issued driver’s license when they visit other countries.

Even though authorities say the international driver’s license is a scam, some local car dealerships and at least one insurance agency have advertised in recent years that they accept it as identification.

Real international driving permits are issued in the United States only by the American Automobile Association and the American Automobile Touring Alliance. These permits, which costs about $15, are only valid when accompanied by a driver’s license issued by a government.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/immigra ... c=y&page=2

They used to do that in Florida not only with driver's licenses but fake greencards as well. Now police only see expired driver's licenses from other countries of fake international ones. I actually witnessed a traffic stop where the driver pulled out a 30 year old Colombian driver's license. What has been happening here lately is much more frightening. Employees of the DVM have been caught granting illegal immigrants real Floirda driver's licenses. They have caught this in several cities. In one case it was going on for close to one year. Someone would sell illegals real driver's licenses and the employee would get a cut of the money when they would issue the license. This scam was discovered by a police officer during a traffic stop where the car was searched. The driver had other people's licenses in his trunk.

Added to Home PAge
http://www.alipac.us/article4387.html

Illegal Immigrants would not be victims of these types of scams had they been here legally

Nice to see them using these bogus drivers licenses and getting deported as a result.

Originally Posted by jp_48504

Illegal Immigrants would not be victims of these types of scams had they been here legally

Nice to see them using these bogus drivers licenses and getting deported as a result.

Ha! They are probably getting Green Cards because they have been victimized. Logic is an idea that is NOT applied to illegal immigration issues in the USA.

Originally Posted by jp_48504

Illegal Immigrants would not be victims of these types of scams had they been here legally

Nice to see them using these bogus drivers licenses and getting deported as a result.

Ha! They are probably getting Green Cards because they have been victimized. Logic is an idea that is NOT applied to illegal immigration issues in the USA.

Another reason we should seal the borders !

Another reason we should seal the borders !

It has been reported that novelty (fake) licenses, social security cards and the like can be purchased at certain flea markets around the Houston area frequented by illegals.

It has been reported that novelty (fake) licenses, social security cards and the like can be purchased at certain flea markets around the Houston area frequented by illegals.