Thread: State law requiring IDs called discriminatory against immigr

State law requiring IDs called discriminatory against immigrants
Identity crisis?
Pat Schneider
May 15, 2007


Community groups in Madison are worried a new state law that makes it harder to get state photo ID cards will complicate access to more than state roadways.

The law, requiring proof of legal presence in the United States to be eligible for a driver's license or state ID, likely will hamper access to banking services and some apartments, activists say. Many states around the country have taken stands against the federal REAL ID law, but while some Wisconsin legislators are raising concerns, the effort appears likely to pass another legislative hurdle this week.

"It's going to isolate our immigrant neighbors even more than they are already," said Ben Winter of the East Isthmus Neighborhoods Planning Council, a coalition of neighborhood associations.

Winter said members of his group are trying to find out how they could help, through advocacy or lending a hand to those affected.

The state law, which went into effect on April 1, is a first step in complying with the federal REAL ID law, due to go into effect in May 2008. The "Legal Presence" law is a turnaround in state policy, because the Division of Motor Vehicles never inquired about citizenship in the past.


Proponents and foes alike have agreed the law likely will mean more unlicensed, and uninsured, drivers on the road as undocumented immigrants continue to drive, although they are ineligible for a license.

"They're going to be stuck," said Winter, an immigration law paralegal and co-chairman of the planning council.

"The city is really sprawled out -- people need a car to get to work," he said. "They need to be able to drive to get groceries."

Lisa Subeck of Communities United said legislators probably did not realize the breadth of the everyday consequences of the law when they approved it.

"They may not need to show their driver's licenses on a daily basis, but there's a whole group of people out there who rely on a picture ID," Subeck said.

But state Sen. Alan Lasee, R-De Pere, a sponsor of Legal Presence legislation, said in an interview that if the law makes life difficult for undocumented immigrants, that's too bad.

"We should not be in the business of making it easier for illegals to be here," he said, but there are some legislators who strongly disagree.

The influential Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to support Gov. Jim Doyle's budgeted allocation of nearly $22 million to finance compliance with REAL ID. That federal law sets criteria for the type of documents that may be used to establish legal presence, how they must be verified and how copies of them must be stored to allow access by other states. Only driver's licenses from states in compliance could be used to gain access to commercial aircraft and federal buildings, under the federal law. Committee members also will vote on whether to endorse Doyle's recommended new $10 fee for a new or renewed license to offset REAL ID costs, or to boost the fee to $15.

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, said he'll vote against putting state dollars toward REAL ID, an unfunded federal mandate for which final rules have not yet been issued. "It's foolish to spend any money until we know a little more about what we're spending it on," he said in an interview.

Pocan also said he is philosophically against what he calls "an abysmal idea."

"Under the guise of fighting terrorism, we're assuming everyone is potentially a terrorist or illegal immigrant," he said.

Subeck said Communities United is hoping to build public awareness of the law and "appeal to the liberal Democrats we've elected by helping them see that this law impacts everybody," but success has been limited so far.

Pocan, Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, and Rep. Pedro Colon, D-Milwaukee, were the faint voices against REAL ID in debate in committee so far, Pocan said, adding that only he and Colon voted last week against recommending funding for a small portion of REAL ID, in a vote that tied it to funding for domestic abuse prevention.


Wisconsin is actually in the minority nationwide in its stance on the law, Pocan said. So far, nine states, including conservative Idaho and progressive Minnesota, have adopted legislation rejecting the federal law, and legislatures in 25 others, including Illinois and Texas, have introduced it, according to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

Most public debate has focused on privacy and financial concerns and the advisability of tempting undocumented, and eventually unlicensed, drivers to stay on the road. But the collateral consequences of REAL ID and the state Legal Presence law already in effect go much further, opponents warn.

Banking: The law will likely impair the ability of some prospective customers of Park Bank to open an account or access other banking services, said Paul Hoffmann, senior vice president of the Madison banking company, but he added that "we have not seen it yet."

The Patriot Act requires banks to identify customers with 100 percent confidence, and Hoffman said Park Bank typically has done that with driver's licenses or state ID cards. But the bank also accepts foreign passports and other papers. The goal is to establish identity, not immigration status, he said.

"It's legal to open an account and be a citizen of Australia, or be a Korean graduate student and have a bank account," Hoffmann said.

People without a bank account can turn to check-cashing stores, but they too require identification. "We have to be certain we know the identity of each of our customers, because we take the risk," said Bob Wolfberg, president of PLS Check Cashers, with four stores in Madison.

The company requires a government-issued ID: driver's license, state ID card, foreign or U.S. passport or the "matricula consular" issued by the Mexican consulate to nationals living in the United States.

Hoffmann is concerned that policies making it difficult for people to conduct business in the commercial sphere could force them underground.

"Then you can't be sure people are being taken advantage of," he said, adding that putting such a premium on state-issued IDs also might promote identity theft.

Apartment blues: Social services is one area of concern for "legal presence" opponents where lack of a state photo ID will have little effect, according to providers, largely because driver's licenses have not historically been part of the application process.

Dane County Director of Human Services Lynn Green said her agency must by law establish citizenship or permanent legal residence for such economic assistance programs as W-2, food stamps and medical assistance. But federal guidelines for those programs require birth certificates, passports and naturalization papers, not driver's licenses, she said.

For health and safety and community programs such as food pantries, the county has liberal guidelines to enable clients to establish their identities and access services.

But Legal Presence opponents are concerned the law will make it difficult to access housing, although an industry spokesperson said it is unlikely.

Area landlords are not likely to require a photo ID from prospective tenants, said Nancy Jensen, executive director of the Apartment Association of South Central Wisconsin, adding that the association does not generally recommend the practice.

Jensen said prospective tenants might be asked for a photo ID if the property were being shown by a inexperienced property manager working alone. "It's a safety precaution," she said.

But the practice is common, asserted Subeck, who is coordinator of transitional housing and the Second Chance Apartment Project of the Madison YWCA and a former social services case manager.

"It's not across the board, but it's something I've encountered quite frequently while out apartment hunting with a client," she said.

The tightened rules around state-issued IDs affect not only undocumented immigrants but native-born citizens too, Subeck said.

She said she is trying to assist a woman who came with her family from the Chicago area to the Dane County shelter system without identification.

To get a certified copy of her birth certificate from Cook County, Ill. -- needed to become eligible for a Wisconsin photo ID -- she needs a photo ID, which she can't get in Wisconsin without her birth certificate.

"It's a Catch-22," Subeck said.

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We have laws, period. Should we repeal all of our laws to accommodate people that have no legal right to be here? Or should we rid ourselves of the pandering politicians that would give away our country for a few more votes that keep them in power. Vote them out!
I feel as though the take down ploy is to is use our own freedoms against us in manipulative ways to enable foreign nationals to come into this country and loot.
This country is not a wide open unclaimed territory open to settlement and free for the taking. It is already owned and this owner is tired of paying for the interlopers. Yes, I am a Nationalist and I am certainly not ashamed of it.

I have an idea. Illegal aliens should go home!! Then they will have NO problem proving they were born there!

If you live in Wisconsin, you need to make the phone in Representative Mark Pocan's office ring until he wants to smash it with a hammer. He was elected to represent American citizens, not illegal aliens. He needs to be reminded of that, a lot! We need to make these scummy, pandering politicians on the losing side of this issues accutely aware that we have had enough. Call him, Senator Mark Miller and Rep. Pedro Colon. We need to follow up with these kind of traitors even when we win a battle.

It also looks like Paul Hoffman of Park Bank also wants you to close your accounts if you are a legal citizen.

Hoffmann is concerned that policies making it difficult for people to conduct business in the commercial sphere could force them underground.

That's where we want them.

Once again political intelligance (contradiction in terms, I know.) takes the place of common sense. If immigrants are legal with all the right paperwork, then there is no reason why they couldn't get licenses. It's the illegals ones who are worried about this. Which I'm not sure why because many of the illegals drive w/o a license anyway!

How do you discriminate against lawbreaking idiots who shouldn't even be here in the first place?

Let them go home and all will be well

"It's going to isolate our immigrant neighbors even more than they are already," said Ben Winter of the East Isthmus Neighborhoods Planning Council, a coalition of neighborhood associations.

Now they're calling illegal aliens "immigrant neighbors"?? Ugh Ugh Ugh.

Um, yes it is discriminitory.
discrminatory:To discriminate is to make a distinction.

You are either a criminal or you are not.

NM is wanting to implement a Identification Card which is obtained by showing proof of birth and American Citizenship. Of course, there is opposition by advocates for the homeless and the illegal immigrants. One remark which was burned into my consciousness was the fact that such an ID would discriminate against those in our country illegally because "such an ID would "list those Mexican Nationals" who do not have American Citizenship" and the public would know that they were here without "proper documentation". I am paraphrasing the actual verbage, but, excuse me, I have spent a year and a half getting my social security credits corrected because my SS number was stolen. Give me a break! Of course, the public needs to know that registered voters are legal citizens of the USA.