Thread: DRIVING WHILE ILLEGAL: IMMIGRANTS WORRY ABOUT BEING ARRESTED

This is another just too much story of the life of an illegal and the pressure he feels from being illegally present in the United States.


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Driving while illegal: Immigrants worry about being arrested and deported

Driving without license

By Liz Mineo, DAILY NEWS STAFF
GHS

Sun Aug 19, 2007, 12:54 AM EDT


On a recent afternoon E. Santos hopped behind the wheel of his SUV in the lot of his apartment building on Union Avenue, said a prayer for his safe return home, and drove off.

An illegal immigrant who drives without a valid driver's license, Santos puts his fate in God's hands every time he drives. He makes the sign of the cross before he starts the car's engine.

A Brazilian man who agreed to be identified by his first name initial and last name, Santos, 27, knows well the risks he takes. He can be stopped by the police and sent to court, but what he fears the most is that any encounter with the law can lead to deportation.

And yet he drives.

"I feel like a soldier who has been sent to war and is forced to kill people," said Santos, who drives with an expired Brazilian driver's license. "I don't have a choice."

Illegal immigrants cannot obtain a Social Security number, the main requirement to apply for a Massachusetts driver's license. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, between 150,000 to 250,000 illegal immigrants call Massachusetts home, and like Santos, many of them take the roads without a license.

In the three years Santos has lived in Framingham he has never been caught by the police, but he knows many fellow Brazilians who have. On any given day, the courts across MetroWest and the Milford area are filled with immigrant men and women who are sent before a judge for driving without a license. Many of them were stopped by the police after traffic violations.

Santos said he's extra careful when he's behind the wheel. When he drives, he obeys traffic rules and never speeds, but he knows he's at fault: he drives with an expired Brazilian driver's license.

But when it comes to his car, he makes sure everything is in order. The used SUV he bought for $4,000 is registered, has insurance and boasts a Massachusetts license plate and inspection sticker.

"It's one fewer problem if the police stop you," said Santos.

It's not uncommon among those who drive without a license to have insurance and their car registered, police said. "It seems they often meet requirements for the vehicle, but not for the operation," said Framingham Police spokesman Lt. Paul Shastany. "More often than not, they have registered and insured vehicles."

Insurance companies accept foreign driver's licenses to insure a car, but only for one year. Restricted by that time line, many illegal immigrants have found away around it: every year, when the policy ends, they buy fake foreign driver's licenses with false names to secure insurance for their cars.

Or they resort to other immigrants who have driver's licenses and are willing to buy insurance for them and even register their cars for a "fee." In Waltham, home to many Central American immigrants, community leader Paula Mendoza has noticed the trend.

"They're being taken advantage of," Mendoza said. "There is a lot of corruption going on."

When Santos' insurance ended a year ago, his wife bought the insurance, but that policy is about to end in a few more weeks. He's pondering what to do.

In the meantime, the former owner of a cell phone shop in the Minas Gerais state of Brazil restricts his driving as much as possible to reduce his chances of being stopped by police.

Two months ago, he moved to downtown Framingham, where he and his wife work. When they lived on Whitney Street, he had to drive too many times per day: to go to work, take his wife to work and English lessons, pick their 7-year-old daughter up from school and drop her off at the baby sitter.

These days, he walks to work and so does his wife. The only driving he does is to the baby sitter or his sister-in-law, who sometimes takes care of his daughter.

On a recent evening, after work, Santos drove along Hollis Street to pick his daughter up. A reporter and a photographer from the Daily News rode along with him. As Brazilian rock music wafted from the radio, Santos screened his surroundings, looking for police cruisers.

If he sees them, Santos struggles to remain calm. Often he trembles and his hands begin to sweat. His wife scolds him for being nervous, he said, but he can't help it. Once, a police cruiser followed his car for a few blocks and he thought the moment he has long feared had arrived. He saw himself being handcuffed and sent back to Brazil. As he slowed down, the patrol car passed by him.

"They said, 'Men don't cry,' but that day I cried," he said.

Stress, anxiety and depression are common ailments among illegal immigrants, said Brazilian-born Percy Andreazi, a mental health counselor with a private practice in Framingham.

"I see it every day," he said. "Ninety-percent of my clients live in fear because they are undocumented and are afraid of being deported. They suffer from panic attacks, generalized anxiety, and all types of stress."

Santos also feels badly because he cannot please his daughter, who would like him to be on hand every time she performs at school. Over the past three years, he only attended one performance, and he has never visited the school to talk to her teachers.

"There is a police patrol at the school," he said.

This summer, his daughter wanted to attend a summer camp in Holliston. Santos had to say no because it would have meant more risks. He avoids main roads and prefers back roads. He stays away from the Mass. Pike and avoid trips to other states, where he could be stopped by state troopers, his worst fear.

When traveling outside the state, Santos goes with friends who have driver's licenses, but in general, he prefers to stay put. Catering to those who want to travel without risks, some Brazilians who own vans offer trips to New York or across New England.

Driving with out-of-state licenses is also common among undocumented immigrants, but it's a temporary solution.

Still, some are making a brisk business out of driving people to Maryland, Maine, Tennessee or North Carolina, where a driver's license can be issued without a Social Security number. In Framingham, Santos said, a Brazilian man drives people to Maine for a $1,500 fee.

Driving without a license is the biggest hurdle for illegal immigrants, so much so that Samuel Chaves, a Brazilian gospel singer who lives in Framingham, wrote a song about it.

In Milford, Brazilian pastor Gilson Jorge, hopes for a state measure that could alleviate the plight of many of his parishioners.

"If the government allows people who don't have Social Security numbers to pay taxes with an ITIN number, why can they give them a document to drive?," he said. "People drive with fear and stress, and that stress can lead to accidents."

On that August afternoon, after Santos picked up his daughter, they came to his apartment and found dinner ready. Before going to work, his wife had prepared rice, beans and meat, a typical Brazilian meal. The girl turned on the television and started watching cartoons, and Santos began setting the table for dinner. He felt safe at home.

"When I drive, I feel like an outlaw," he said in his native Portuguese. "Only when I get off the car, I feel relief."

Liz Mineo can be reached at 508-626-3825 or lmineo@cnc.com.

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http://www.milforddailynews.com/homepage/x1359805521

Psalm 91

Why is it, we have so many bleeding hearts that are citizens, that are just as happy to ignore our laws as the illegals do?

Are they mostly "new" citizens, or are they liberals, what's the deal?

We have laws and they seem to not want them enforced for illegals!

I just don't understand these people.

Well, they have been told they are so very necessary for our survival.

They have been coddled, given freebies, etc. for all this time.

Why wouldn't they feel they should break the law??