Thread: New OR driver’s license rules cause talk about evasive tac

New Ore. driver’s license rules cause talk about evasive tactics

A month after Oregon’s new driver’s license rules went into effect, illegal immigrants and their advocates are talking about ways to get around it, and to get around.

One approach: Relocate to Vancouver or elsewhere in Washington state, where getting a driver’s license is easier.

Others are carpooling, using public transit or getting rides from friends and family, driving without a license, or remaining in Oregon until current licenses expire and then returning to one’s native country.

The Oregon rules have been in effect since Feb. 4. State workers must verify Social Security numbers before issuing driver’s licenses. Starting in July, applicants must also show documentation, such as a passport or birth certificate, to prove they are legal residents.

For an estimated 175,000 illegal immigrants statewide, the law may drastically change their daily lives or force them to leave the country.

In the past few months, the Mexican Consulate has fielded more relocation-related inquiries from Mexicans than usual, but that interest does not necessarily mean more Mexicans are returning to Mexico, said David Simon, Portland’s acting consul.

“We will see the impact two or three years from now,â€

i don't believe that our laws are so easy to circumvent as thse people would think. Has anybody heard of the crime of "false swearing?" I'm not sure how this plays out in individual State statutes but if the reality is different than what you depict it to be, there is probabaly a violation.

Moreover, governments that get involved in such things are walking on thin ice. No government has the right to facilitate, aid or abet the violation of our laws on our territory. If people go to consulates and obviously provide false information to obtain a US or State benefit I think it becomes a diplomatic issue.

Law Dictionary: False Swearing


A common law misdemeanor which would amount to perjury except that it is not committed in a judicial proceeding; the giving of a false oath in connection with some proceeding or matter in which an oath is required by law.

A "false oath" is a willful and corrupt sworn statement made without sincere belief in its truthfulness." Perkins & Boyce, Criminal Law 511 (3rd ed. 1982). Thus, the giving of a false oath in an affidavit used to obtain a marriage license will not support a charge of perjury because it is extrajudicial but it will support a charge of false swearing which is a separate offense. 3 S.W. 662, 664. Many jurisdictions now have statutes proscribing false swearing. Model Penal Code §241.2. Other statutes group perjury, false swearing, and "making false written statements" together as different degrees of the same crime, often called loosely "perjury." See, e.g., N.Y. Penal Law Art. 210, et seq.