Thread: California Prepares To Issue Driver’s Licenses To Illegal Aliens Who Can’t Pass Test

Originally Posted by Newmexican

If the license looks different, it is aflag at the voting booth.

Driver’s licenses for the undocumented: Problems still remain


Carmen Ramos listens to a lecture during a workshop on learning how to pass the driver's license test, as well as getting informed on documents needed to obtain driver's licenses, at the Mexican Consulate in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, July 7, 2014. (Josie Lepe/Bay Area News Group)

By David E. Early, dearly@mercurynews.com
POSTED: 07/13/14, 5:17 PM PDT |



A participant works on a handout during a driver's license workshop at the Mexican Consulate in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, July 7, 2014. (Josie Lepe/Bay Area News Group)

When California legislators passed a law last year allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, they seemed to think implementing the law would be straight-ahead simple.

But with less than six months to go before the Department of Motor Vehicles is supposed to start handing out the licenses, the road ahead is still serpentine and foggy -- especially for the millions of Latinos who make up the state’s largest undocumented population.

The DMV already crashed into the U.S. Department of Homeland Security when the agency rejected the proposed design for the new license. And many advocates for immigrants are still arguing that the required documents for getting a license are too difficult or costly to obtain. Immigrant communities, meanwhile, are rushing to educate applicants on how to negotiate the maze of DMV lines, paperwork, fees and tests.

“This opportunity is important to immigrants from all parts of the world,” said Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Salinas, sponsor of the 2013 license bill, AB 60. “But the challenges in getting everything up and running have also been felt by all immigrant communities. So lots of work remains to make sure we are ready to launch in January.”

Cinthya Muñoz, the regional lead organizer for Causa Justa, an immigrant rights group with offices in Oakland and San Francisco, said the lack of birth certificates and other documents the DMV requires to establish identity could automatically disqualify thousands of potential applicants.

But even if the disputes over documentation and the license’s design are resolved, immigrants face a daunting task: passing the DMV’s written and road tests.

That’s why a crowd of undocumented immigrants last Monday showed up at San Jose’s Mexican consulate to participate in one of many painstaking sessions to demystify the DMV gantlet. Similar classes are being taught at schools, churches and community centers, where the discussions range from the tricky language on DMV tests to basic do’s and don’ts.

“We are teaching people things like: Do not drive to the DMV to take your tests,” said the Mexican consulate’s Nuria Marine. “We don’t want the whole process to break down before it gets a chance to start.”

Felipe Portales, a former DMV employee, conducted Monday’s spirited 2.5-hour session in Spanish and drummed information into listeners, most of whom have been driving unlicensed for years.

Other attendees, including San Jose resident Silvia Diaz Barrientos, have been using another trick favored by many undocumented immigrants in California -- using a license legally issued by another state. Barrientos has been doing it for 25 years.

“The class was really good and informative,” she said, “and I’m glad we have the support from the consulate.”

Maria Lopez, a legal resident from Santa Clara, came looking for extra help because she has failed the DMV tests a number of times. She said she needs to be able to drive to properly care for her special-needs daughter. The forum, she said, provided extensive help in Spanish that has never been available to her before.

Portales energetically preached about the beauty of seat belts, complete stops and smoothly changing lanes.
“A license can be part of the American dream,” he said, “and a life-changer for so many people.”

The DMV recently issued its long-awaited rules on the kind of documents applicants would need to show -- various combinations of consular ID cards, passports and birth certificates from immigrants countries of origin.

At hearings on the issue in Los Angeles and Oakland, many immigrant and advocates testified about how many undocumented immigrants have no official documents and come from nations where records are difficult to impossible to obtain.

“And some are expensive,” said Priya Murthy, policy and organizing program director for SIREN, the Services Immigration Rights and Education Network in San Jose.

Murthy said other documents -- from work ID cards to driver’s licenses from other states -- should be accepted by authorities. “These kinds of papers can verify someone’s identity and are more accessible by more people,” she said.

For undocumented immigrants, the license issue is connected to other accompanying problems. Without the ability to legally drive, immigrants say, there is a broad, negative effect on education, employment and family life experiences. Plus, there are myriad issues around costly tickets, liabilities for lacking insurance and individuals fleeing accident scenes. And because unlicensed drivers can lose their cars to costly, 30-day police impoundments, an entire industry -- predatory towing and the selling of unclaimed cars -- has preyed on them for years.

“For poor communities, being able to legally drive means we are not just surrounded by wealth, but we can better participate in that success,” said Braulio Gonzalez, of Youth United for Community Action in East Palo Alto. “Our community members are cleaning Facebook, doing maintenance at Stanford, being chefs at Google. Not having a driver’s license is a severe limitation to truly becoming a part of what is really going on inside those places.”

Currently, DMV officials are poring over the testimony from the public hearings and will soon issue final regulations. An estimated 1.4 million people are expected to apply for licenses during the first three years, and the DMV is assuring advocates that the database of undocumented drivers will not be shared with Homeland Security or any other government agency.

The program is expected to cost from $140 million to $220 million during that period -- paid for by standard license fees -- and will provide jobs for 1,000 new DMV employees. Still, it’s unclear if all disputes will be resolved in time to begin issuing licenses on Jan. 1.

Homeland Security officials say the initial design of the license did not meet requirements in the 2005 Real ID Act, aimed -- in the age of terrorism -- at standardized authentication of state driver’s licenses and immigration identification.

On the front of the proposed California permit was a “DP” -- standing for driver privilege -- instead of “DL” for driver’s license. The back had a single line saying the license was not for official federal purposes -- getting past airline security, for example.

Other states that issue licenses to undocumented immigrants -- Connecticut, Colorado, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico, Illinois, Washington, Nevada, Utah and Washington, D.C. -- have markedly different designs from their regular licenses. The California DMV was striving for subtlety, fearing immigrant exposure to discrimination, scams and extortion.

“The fear is very real” about having a license that is obviously different, said SIREN’s Murthy. “If the new license glaringly indicates that a driver is undocumented, that person could be treated differently by law enforcement.

“The community wants to make sure the roads are safe. They won’t feel safe if there is the specter of discrimination because the license looks so different.”

http://www.dailynews.com/government-...s-still-remain

THEY STILL SHOULD NOT GET A DR LIC AT ALL OUR SIGN 'S ARE IN ENGLISH NOT IN SPANISH

"New Mexico since 2003 has licensed illegal immigrants who have proof of state residency."
http://www.alipac.us/f12/other-state...e-03-a-302156/

California doesn't start to issue license to illegal aliens until Jan. 2015.
(So that first article has some pretty confusing claims about what is happening in California now.)

"Nebraska is the only state in the country that does not let undocumented immigrant youths who have obtained deferred action status to receive a driver’s license."
http://www.alipac.us/f12/nebraska-%9...censes-307197/

The following states issue license to illegal aliens as of Jan. 2014.
Nevada, Utah, Washington, Maryland, Oregon, Connecticut, New Mexico, and Illinois, along with the District of Columbia. (I can't find the article that says 22 state are issuing license to illegal aliens right now, but I'm still looking.)
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/ill...#ixzz37vbAE0pP

http://www.alipac.us/f12/hi-bill-all...icense-296953/
Eleven other states have already passed similar legislation.
2/4/2014


http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/ill.../10/id/546325/

California doesn't start issuing license until Jan. 2015.

• No state issues a license to people who fail the test.
• They have to take the test over until they pass it to get a license.
• 
  
• Illegal immigrants in D.C. fail written driver’s test at 80% rate
• 
  
  
• About 10K illegal immigrants sign up for Colorado driver's licenses
  
  
  
• NV. 3,200 HAVE APPLIED FOR AN ILLEGAL ALIEN DRIVER'S CARD IN ONE WEEK