Thread: New law requires Utah drivers to prove legal status

New law requires Utah drivers to prove legal status
Documentation » Licenses can no longer be renewed via mail, online.

By Brandon Loomis

The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 12/24/2009 05:41:05 PM MST

No more renewing your driver license from the comfort of home.

Starting Jan. 1, Utahns accustomed to renewing their licenses every five years online or by mail will have to line up at Utah Driver License Division offices and prove anew their identity and legal presence in the United States to get a new license.

Undocumented immigrants still will have access to a driving-privilege card that does not work as identification for state benefits or access through federal airport security checkpoints.

SB40, meant partly to conform to future requirements of the federal Real ID Act, creates a third driver category -- the limited-term license -- sunsetting the driving privileges of legal immigrants at the same time that their permits to be in the country expire.

Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, said he has received phone calls and e-mails from Utahns upset that the bill he sponsored will create an inconvenience. The changes were necessary, he said, because other states were starting to reject Utah licenses for lack of proof that their owners were in the country legally.

"It was being challenged," he said, especially in neighboring Nevada. "It made sense to make the changes."

In the new year, U.S. citizens renewing Utah driver licenses will have to present proof of identity and legal status, including a Social Security card and a birth certificate, naturalization papers or valid passport. They also will need state residency proof, such as a recent bank statement or utility bill.

The new requirements will last for five years. That's enough time for everyone with a current license to cycle back through the process, because Utah licenses last five years, said Nannette Rolfe, director of the Driver License Division.

Some who have Utah licenses likely aren't U.S. citizens, Rolfe said, because in the past it was possible for some noncitizens to get Social Security numbers. The new rules will ensure only citizens have regular driver licenses. They also will provide an upgrade for those in the country legally, such as students on a visa, because they will get a limited-term license that works temporarily as a federal ID.

Tony Yapias, an immigrant advocate and director of Proyecto Latino de Utah, said he wishes foreign workers and students who are in the country legally could get regular licenses.

"They're here legally," he said. "There shouldn't be an extra means to identify them. But the law's already passed, and there's nothing much we can do about that."

Yapias said he understands the need for stricter ID verification "post-9/11," and he is glad the new law preserves driving-privilege cards for undocumented immigrants. The cards make those immigrants legal on the roads, encouraging them to register vehicles and buy insurance.

"That makes us all safer," Yapias said.

Bramble agreed the privilege cards make Utah's roads safer and said a recent legislative audit found the rate of insurance coverage among undocumented immigrants to be about the same as that among the general population.

He added that there never was a crackdown on immigrants -- as feared by Yapias and other advocates -- after the Legislature in 2005 took regular licenses from the undocumented and replaced them with privilege cards.

"There's been no evidence of [profiling]," he said. "In fact, it's been widely accepted by the Hispanic community."

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14066885

Tony Yapias, an immigrant advocate and director of Proyecto Latino de Utah, said he wishes foreign workers and students who are in the country legally could get regular licenses.

"They're here legally," he said. "There shouldn't be an extra means to identify them.


Sounds like Yapias is just upset because this will make it extremely difficult for all of these currently legal students and workers to overstay and become illegal aliens once their visas expire.

Any time these "advocates" complain about a law, it's only because it somehow impedes, or closes a door on, some type of illegal activity involving the immigrant community.


But the law's already passed, and there's nothing much we can do about that."


Yes, there is something you can do about it Tony. Instead of making a career....... funded by American taxpayer money......out of assisting immigrants in the scamming of America and skirting of our laws, how about you just start focusing your energies toward instructing these people on the importance of obeying our laws for a change?

Originally Posted by azwreath

Yes, there is something you can do about it Tony. Instead of making a career....... funded by American taxpayer money......out of assisting immigrants in the scamming of America and skirting of our laws, how about you just start focusing your energies toward instructing these people on the importance of obeying our laws for a change?

Great Bitchslap!

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

Originally Posted by azwreath

Yes, there is something you can do about it Tony. Instead of making a career....... funded by American taxpayer money......out of assisting immigrants in the scamming of America and skirting of our laws, how about you just start focusing your energies toward instructing these people on the importance of obeying our laws for a change?

Great Bitchslap!

DITTO!

Yapias said he understands the need for stricter ID verification "post-9/11," and he is glad the new law preserves driving-privilege cards for undocumented immigrants. The cards make those immigrants legal on the roads, encouraging them to register vehicles and buy insurance.

So illegal invaders can legally drive in Utah anyway?