Thread: CA-Impound policy draws controversy

REGION: Impound policy draws controversy
Opinions vary on whether police must take cars from unlicensed drivers
By EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer | Saturday, August 16, 2008 5:12 PM PDT ∞

59 comment(s) Increase Font Decrease Font email this story print this story Escondido's controversial policy of impounding vehicles seized from unlicensed drivers for 30 days has its roots in the anti-illegal immigrant fervor of the mid-1990s, and it continues today, Latino activists say.

The city has impounded thousands of vehicles from people driving without a license in recent years, according to police records. City officials say they are simply implementing a state law, which they say mandates that the vehicles be impounded for one month.

"We enforce the law as it is written," said Michael McGuinness, Escondido's assistant city attorney.

The law, California Vehicle Code section 14602.6, says that if a police officer determines a person is driving without a license, or the license was revoked or suspended, the person's vehicle "shall be impounded for 30 days."

However, there is disagreement on the interpretation of the law.

The state Legislative counsel said in a 2007 opinion that simply driving without a license was not reason enough to impound a vehicle.

Escondido has strictly enforced the law in recent years through police checkpoints and on routine patrols. Because of those efforts, the city was named in a lawsuit filed by Los Angeles-based civil rights attorneys who allege that the policy is unconstitutional.

Bill Flores, a spokesman for El Grupo, an umbrella group for local civil rights groups, said the policy is also discriminatory.

"They are doing this in the larger context of anti-immigrant and anti-Latino politics," Flores said.

There is no demographic analysis available to document whether most of the people whose cars are impounded are Latino.

The impound law was signed into law in 1994 by then-Gov. Pete Wilson in 1994; it took effect in January 1995.

Nativo Lopez, a prominent Los Angeles-based Latino activist, said that at the time, Wilson was stirring anti-illegal immigrant sentiment among state voters.

Wilson championed the controversial Proposition 187, a 1994 voter-approved initiative that eliminated most state-funded benefits for illegal immigrants, including public education for illegal immigrants' children.

Much of Prop. 187 was later ruled unconstitutional by the courts. But many other laws targeting illegal immigrants enacted by Wilson remain on the books, including a 1994 law barring undocumented immigrants from getting California driver's licenses.

"It's a shame that with all the Latinos elected to office, we haven't been able to turn a corner and turn our back on that legacy," Lopez said Friday.

Lopez's group, the Mexican American Political Association, was one of the main supporters of a 2005 bill that would have overturned the 30-day mandatory impound law.

The measure, Senate Bill 591, was introduced by Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles. A spokeswoman for Cedillo said the senator did not push the bill through because it was considered too politically controversial.

Lopez said he believed that a federal court ruling that year would have made the measure unnecessary, anyway. But he was wrong; many cities continue to enforce it, he said.

In 2005, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that towing a vehicle merely because a driver is unlicensed is an unreasonable seizure absent a showing that the vehicle posed a threat to public safety.

Despite the ruling, Escondido is only one of many cities around the state strictly enforcing the law.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of about 20 plaintiffs, including two people whose cars were impounded by Escondido police, names Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Riverside and Los Angeles counties and the cities of Riverside, Maywood and Los Angeles as defendants.

McGuinness said the ruling was based on an Oregon law and not the California law.

The lawsuit has strong opposition, even from some unlikely sources. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, both of whom are among the most prominent Latino elected officials in the state, support the impound policy.

Assemblyman Martin Garrick, R-Carlsbad, whose district includes Escondido, said Friday that he also supports the law.

But he added that he does not believe the law mandates that police officers impound the vehicles. Garrick said the law gives the officer discretion on whether to seize the vehicle.

"I think the law is just and correct," he said. "Driving is a privilege, not a right."

Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.




http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08 ... 74df68.txt

Nativo Lopez, a prominent Los Angeles-based Latino activist, said that at the time, Wilson was stirring anti-illegal immigrant sentiment among state voters.

Wilson championed the controversial Proposition 187, a 1994 voter-approved initiative that eliminated most state-funded benefits for illegal immigrants, including public education for illegal immigrants' children.

The only residents who felt prop 187 was "controversial" were the pro-illegal invader advocates like nativo lopez and his beloved illegal invaders!. Prop 187 passed with an overwhelming majority of the voters in this state!

If you don't want your car impounded, do not drive without a license! Why should latinos who choose to drive without a license be treated any different...

"It's a shame that with all the Latinos elected to office, we haven't been able to turn a corner and turn our back on that legacy," Lopez said Friday.

Ya think just because Latinos are in office it will make it so they don't have to obey the same laws as everyone else? The law is the law and if so many Latinos weren't here illegally and breaking so many other laws....then they wouldn't be having this problem.

No license, no car, duh!

Good for Escondido! Proud of you for enforcing laws, simple as that.

I'm tired of hearing stories how illegals get a wink and a nod for breaking laws in Mexifornia. If I were caught without a license I'd expect my car to be impounded and more. Oh, that's right, I'm a citizen so that's different.