Thread: Tennessee reconsidering state's certificates for driving

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/artic ... 46,00.html

Immigrant drivers hope program restored

Tennessee reconsidering state's certificates for driving

By TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press
December 25, 2006

NASHVILLE - When the state Legislature began allowing immigrants living in Tennessee to obtain driving certificates, regardless of whether they were in the country legally, Alicia Leon jumped at the chance.

Then last February, after several high-profile cases of fraud that delivered driving documents to illegal immigrants living outside Tennessee, the Department of Safety suspended the program.


Immigrant advocates hoped the problems soon would be worked out, but with the last of the certificates issued before the suspension set to expire in the next couple of months, there is no word on when or even if the program will be reinstated.

Jose Gonzalez, an advocate for immigrants with the Nashville nonprofit Conexion Americas, hopes to see the program restored as quickly as possible.

Illegal immigrants who have lost the ability to drive legally already were worried, he said, but the recent announcement of a pending program that would let sheriff's deputies in Nashville check the immigration status of every person who is booked at the county jail has created a real panic.

Leon's certificate, which she calls in Spanish a "half license," expired in May. Now the Mexican native, who has been here 11 years, tries to drive only when she can't get a ride from someone else or take the bus, because she is afraid that driving could lead to her deportation.

"Sometimes accidents happen that are unexpected," she said. "With a license, we don't have to be afraid."

Leon and her husband have talked to an immigration lawyer about getting papers to stay in the country legally, but they were told to wait and see what happens in Congress, she said. In the meantime, she worries.

"My husband and I sometimes talk about what would happen if I were arrested and he were here with the children. What would happen if I were arrested? What would we do?"

Sheriff's office spokeswoman Karla Crocker said illegal immigrants are unlikely to be deported for something like a broken taillight. Even if the federal government does allow sheriff's deputies to check the immigration status of prisoners, most people pulled over for minor traffic violations will not be taken to jail.

Nevertheless, illegal immigrants are very afraid that any minor violation could start them down the road to deportation.

"The fear they live with is inhuman," Gonzalez said.

But Tennessee is unlikely to restore the program until the Department of Homeland Security issues specific guidelines for compliance with the federal REAL ID Act of 2005, which sets national standards for state driver's licenses, said Mike Browning, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Safety.

After REAL ID is implemented, licenses that do not comply will not be accepted for things like boarding planes or entering federal buildings.

Tennessee's certificates allow illegal immigrants to drive legally but are stamped with red letters saying they cannot be used for identification. That was a change made after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The certificates were being studied as a possible way to handle "nonconforming drivers" under REAL ID.

State Department of Safety officials, including interim commissioner Gerald Nicely, have informally met to discuss how the federal law will affect Tennessee, Browning said, but the state is in a holding pattern with regard to the certificates.

Advocates say the certificates make the roads safer. Their argument: Illegal immigrants already are driving, so they should know the rules of the road.

But before the program can be revived, it could be repealed.

State Sen. Bill Ketron introduced two of four bills in the last Legislature to repeal the certificates. He plans to reintroduce them in 2007.

"I want to keep the roads safe," he said. He added: "The process was so easy to come here and get a driver's certificate, we were a gateway to the rest of the country."

State employees and contractors were convicted of taking money to improperly issue driving certificates to immigrants while federal investigations exposed black-market shuttles carrying South and Central American immigrants from out of state to get the driving documents.

The Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police supported the certificate program when it was introduced although it has not taken a position on the program's suspension, said executive director Maggi McLean Duncan.

"We want our streets to be as safe as possible," she said. But, she added, there were some unforeseen bugs in the program that need to be worked out.

Oh sure---and let those illegal misfits smash their UNINSURED crap cars into my insured vehicle? Cause damage in the thousands, and then bolt to their illegal residence, fail to appear in court, and turn their backs on the damage they have caused?

And to add insult to injury, have my insurance company tell me that they cannot recover damages from these CRIMINALS, and that I can sue them to try to recover my losses if I care to?

And, then to add insult to injury, RAISE MY INSURANCE PREMIUMS FOR THREE YEARS, so these animals can continue to drive?

Tennessee definitely has their priorities screwed to an unbelievable degree!

Sheriff's office spokeswoman Karla Crocker said illegal immigrants are unlikely to be deported for something like a broken taillight.

And this is exactly why the U.S. is crawling with illegals with more and more entering every day. These invaders seem to be the only folks in America who can walk away from an encounter with police without having to prove, difinitively, who they are.

Nevertheless, illegal immigrants are very afraid that any minor violation could start them down the road to deportation.

Yeah, and all too often we hear of them leaving the people they've hit to die in the street to avoid deportation as well.

"The fear they live with is inhuman," Gonzalez said.

Considering the number of PA tagged cars in Delaware's cities and towns, that doesn't appear to be the case at all. Though it should be.