New requirements for Ore. driver's licenses go into effect tomorrow

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Story Published: Jun 30, 2008 at 6:43 AM PDT

Story Updated: Jun 30, 2008 at 6:43 AM PDT
By Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Need to renew or replace your driver's license? Start hunting for that passport or birth certificate.

Starting Tuesday, drivers who want a license in Oregon will have to prove they're in the country legally. Besides arriving with their passport, original birth certificate or immigration papers, drivers will also need documents that list their Social Security number, such as a tax return or employment record.

"Even if they showed a birth certificate years ago when they got their license, we've got to see it again," said David House, a spokesman for the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski ordered the DMV to start verifying Social Security numbers in February. Lawmakers then took it a step further and gave the state explicit authority to check a driver's legal status.

House said the agency has seen a 10 percent drop in the number of licenses issued since February. Last year, 105,000 licenses were issued from February to May. During the same four-month period this year, 93,000 were issued.

Before the rules were changed, Oregon was one of only a handful of states that did not require proof of legal residence for a license.

Critics of illegal immigration called the state a haven for the undocumented, and said anything less than a proof-of-legal-presence standard opens the way to drug trafficking and terrorism.

Opponents of the documentation requirements say people who are poor, elderly or live in rural areas may have a tough time getting ID cards or driver's licenses. Nationally, about 11 million U.S. citizens lack birth certificates or passports.

"The reality is that not everybody has these documents, and may have difficulty obtaining them," said Rick Bennett, a lobbyist for the senior citizens group, AARP Oregon.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


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