DUI checkpoints snag illegal immigrants’ cars

March 28th, 2011, 12:30 pm
by Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter

5 Law enforcement agencies last year impounded six cars for every drunk driving arrest at sobriety checkpoints – and most of those cars belonged to unlicensed illegal immigrants, according to a California Watch investigation.

State-funded sobriety checkpoints during the holidays nearly doubled last year, to 1,050. That combined with non-holiday checkpoints for a total of about 2,500 such operations, according to the investigation.

A total of 17,419 vehicles were impounded, with a rough estimate that 70 percent of those belonged to unlicensed illegal immigrants. Under state law, motorists who don’t have a license or who have had their driving privileges suspended or revoked can have their cars impounded for 30 days.

“Local governments often charge unlicensed drivers a fine to get their vehicles released from impound – on average more than $150, finance records show. Cities, increasingly, also get a cut of the fees that tow operators charge vehicle owners, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars a year,â€