Thread: Rahm Emanuel pushes for driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants

Rahm Emanuel pushes for driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants

BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter/drozek@suntimes.com January 7, 2013 2:10AM



BlancRodriguez 16 is comforted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel as Father Brendan Curran prays St. Pius Church 1919 S. Ashland. Sunday

Updated: January 7, 2013 2:15AM


Mayor Rahm Emanuel rallied support Sunday at a predominantly Latino church for legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain state driver’s licenses.

“This is a fight not just about driver’s licenses, but about who we are,” Emanuel told parishioners, business leaders and immigration activists at St. Pius Catholic Church on the Southwest Side.

The legislation passed the Illinois Senate last month and faces a committee vote this week in the Illinois House.

If passed, the measure would allow all immigrants to obtain driver’s training, licenses and insurance.

Emanuel argued that the legislation makes sense because it would be a progressive step to help regulate the estimated 250,000 immigrant drivers who don’t have licenses.

“Let us lead the country again, by giving those immigrants a driver’s license so they can take their kids to school and go to work,” Emanuel said during church services.

Rahm Emanuel pushes for driver

Added to the Homepage with amended title
http://www.alipac.us/content/rahm-em...migrants-1257/

...... but they aren't supposed to be working!

Please make calls to Congress now and say NO to any form of Amnesty!

Take Action Here
http://www.alipac.us/f8/take-action-...6/#post1321254

Ill. House committee approves illegal immigrant licenses, but foes question fraud protections

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press
January 07, 2013 - 6:09 pm EST

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois — A proposal to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants received House committee approval Monday, despite concerns by both Democrats and Republicans whether it goes far enough to prevent fraud.

The plan, endorsed 6-3 by a transportation committee, requires those immigrants who wish to obtain a license have their photo taken and filed digitally in a state database. But state Rep. Dennis Reboletti, R-Elmhurst, said illegal immigrants should be fingerprinted as a better way to create an identifying record. Photos alone could lead to identity fraud, he said.

Supporters of the legislation question whether fingerprinting would deter potential licensees from applying for fear of being identified and deported.

The bill's sponsor, Chicago Democratic Rep. Edward Acevedo, said he's close to having enough votes to get House approval, but would delay a vote until Tuesday. The current legislative session ends Wednesday, meaning legislation would have to start anew if not adopted before new lawmakers are sworn in.

The measure got a Senate OK in December and is backed by Gov. Pat Quinn. If passed in the House and signed, Illinois would be the third — and most populous — state to issue such licenses. Washington and New Mexico currently issue them.

The legislation would make immigrants who drive to work and school eligible for temporary licenses that are already issued to foreign-born visitors to the U.S. The licenses couldn't be used to buy a firearm, register to vote or board a plane, and law enforcement officials wouldn't be allowed to use them to target illegal immigrants for deportation.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights says there are 250,000 unlicensed illegal immigrants who drive in Illinois. Uninsured immigrant drivers cause $64 million in damage claims each year, according to the coalition's calculation that's based on federal and state figures. That's an expense covered by ratepayers' increased premiums. Better-trained and licensed drivers mean safer roads, advocates say.

Opposition to the measure in Illinois has been scarce. Early on, some Republicans said it's an immigration reform measure that should be left up to the federal government. Others on Monday said they feared the licenses opened the door to more fraud.

After the vote, supporters chanted "Si se puede!" or "Yes, we can!" Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a congratulatory statement, saying the measure would make the city and state "more welcoming to immigrants."

"The more we can do to help recent immigrants step out of the shadows, the more they can do to make active contributions to our communities and economy," he said.

Anyone with a driver's license in Illinois has a photograph in a statewide database that includes facial recognition software. But even the transportation committee's chairman, Rep. John D'Amico, a Chicago Democrat who voted for the measure, said potential licensees should be fingerprinted.

Reboletti said facial recognition software is not as reliable as fingerprinting because faces change, but fingerprints do not.

Supporters say that would be too expensive and raise too many questions about whether they could be used by federal immigration officials.

"It would add additional costs, additional delays, and on top of that, if people are fingerprinted, would people actually apply for the document?" asked Fred Tsao, policy director for ICIRR.

Costs to the secretary of state's office, which would issue the cards, would be "phenomenal," said Acevedo. In its current form, the program would cost $800,000 in the first year and $250,000 after that.

___

The bill is SB957.

Ill. House committee approves illegal immigrant licenses, but foes question fraud protections

By Rafael Guerrero

2:59 p.m. CST, January 7, 2013
SPRINGFIELD—

A bill to give illegal immigrants in Illinois a chance to get a special license to drive cleared another hurdle today, winning approval in a committee and moving one step away from the governor’s desk.

Sponsoring Rep. Eddie Acevedo, D-Chicago, later indicated that he's not likely to call the bill for a vote in the full House until Tuesday. The roll call is expected to be close. Time is running short. A new legislature is sworn in Wednesday.

The proposal would allow an estimated 250,000 illegal immigrants in Illinois to get three-year renewable license to drive a vehicle. They could not officially be used for other identification purposes, such as for boarding a plane, buying a gun or voting.

To become eligible, a person would have to live within Illinois for at least a year, a provision that would require applicants to provide a copy of a lease, utility bills and the like.

Under current law, people without a Social Security number or proper documentation to be in the country can't get a driver's license and often have trouble getting car insurance.

The proposal won't require somebody to have insurance before applying for a license because insurance is tied to a vehicle, but supporters note it's already illegal to drive an uninsured car whether a person has a license or not.

The bill advanced to the House floor on a 6-3 vote of a House transportation panel.

The bill already passed the Senate. Passage in the House would send the bill to the governor.

Illegal immigrant driver's license plan advances - chicagotribune.com

A driver's license makes it so much easier for them at the polls.