By Taft Wireback
Staff Writer
Greensboro News and Record
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... EWSREC0201


The illegal immigrant accused in a series of sexual assaults across the Triad had a valid North Carolina driver's license when arrested last month, police said Wednesday.

News that Gilberto Cruz Hernandez, 24, of Winston-Salem, possessed a license could spark new calls for North Carolina to do more to keep licenses from people not here legally.

The issue already had been gaining steam: Four members of Congress from North Carolina said this week they hope to penalize the Tar Heel State and five others that accept the fraud-prone, federal Individual Taxpayer Identification Number from license applicants.

Hernandez, initially arrested Oct. 28 for four assaults in Forsyth County, was charged later with three similar attacks that happened in Greensboro between May 2004 and February.

More charges were added Wednesday involving a Feb. 10 attack in High Point.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Hernandez has been deported twice as an "illegal alien" -- from South Carolina in 1997 and Arizona in 2002. He is from Mexico, officials said.

"He did have a North Carolina license issued in July of this year," Capt. Gary Hastings of the Greensboro Police Department said Wednesday.

Groups lobbying to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into North Carolina point to the Hernandez case as proving the risks the state runs from less stringent licensing policies and lax enforcement of immigration laws.

"The government is failing the populace in its most fundamental responsibility, to protect them from preventable crimes," said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, a political action committee in Raleigh.

Gheen and other critics are concerned about the driver's license because it is an essential document enabling residents -- whether here legally or not-- to blend into society.

The issue gained visibility after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick is leading the effort to quickly stop North Carolina's use of the federal taxpayer number, known as the ITIN. Her proposal, called the True ID Act, would take away millions in federal transportation dollars from North Carolina and other states that decline to stop accepting ITINs.

"I think it's a travesty that North Carolina is one of six states that continues to allow this," Myrick, a Charlotte Republican, said.

North Carolina law allows driver's license applicants to use the ITIN as a required document if they don't qualify for a Social Security number.

North Carolina continued accepting the ITIN even after the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, which issues it, asked states to stop because the agency doesn't carefully check to verify the recipient's identity.

Also joining Myrick as original sponsors of her bill are U.S. Reps. Virginia Foxx from Banner Elk, Walter Jones from Farmville and Patrick McHenry from Gaston County. All are Republicans.

George Tatum, director of the state Division of Motor Vehicles, said his agency supports ending use of the ITIN, along with other measures such as revoking licenses from foreign visitors when their visa or other travel documents expire.

The state Senate approved those changes during the General Assembly session this year. However, the House did not.

Efforts likely will resume to pass the changes next spring when the legislature meets, Tatum said.

Myrick's proposal does not have complete support in the North Carolina delegation.

U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, a Greensboro Republican, isn't endorsing it because federal legislation passed last year already addresses the issue, said his chief of staff, Ed McDonald.

States must comply with the law, the Real ID Act, by 2008, but Myrick's office said she wants to stop use of the ITIN before that.

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Democrat who represents parts of the Triad, said he doesn't support Myrick's bill because he believes it is political grandstanding.

The General Assembly will void the ITIN in its next session whether or not her proposal becomes law, he said.

Contact Taft Wireback at 373-7100 or twireback@news-record.com