Thread: Tighter NJ vehicle registration laws cause problems for IAs

Tighter vehicle registration laws cause problems for immigrants
Home News Tribune Online 10/29/07

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) … A new state law, meant to crack down on New Jersey residents with vehicles registered out of state, is causing extra troubles for immigrants whose legal status is already in doubt.

The law, signed last month by Gov. Jon S. Corzine, gives new state residents 60 days to register their vehicles, or face fines of up to $250 for a first offense and up to $500 for subsequent offenses. They can have their vehicles impounded for up to 96 hours for third and subsequent offenses.

Garden State officials complained that previously ambiguous registration laws made it easier for people to maintain registrations in states that had less stringent insurance and driving record laws.

But immigrant rights advocates say going out of state, to places with less strict laws, has been the only way for some immigrants to get legal registration.

""It's going to hurt the community a lot because we don't have many transportation
options,'' Ramon Hernandez, president of the Mexican American Association of Southern New Jersey, told The Press of Atlantic City for Sunday newspapers.

Mexico City native Hector Molina, 30, a southern New Jersey farm laborer in the U.S. illegally, told The Press that other states give immigrants such as himself a chance to register vehicles.

""They allow us to use our Mexican identification cards to get licenses,'' Molina said.

But Bert Lopez, president of the Hispanic Alliance of Atlantic County, thought it's been foolish for immigrants seeking residency status to play around with vehicle registration laws.

""You want to be forthright to where you do reside, and it does you no benefit to be
registered in Pennsylvania when you live in New Jersey,'' Lopez said.
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Does it escape anyone's notice that if you are here illegally, you do not have the right to drive???

But immigrant rights advocates say going out of state, to places with less strict laws, has been the only way for some immigrants to get legal registration.

They always find ways to circumvent our laws. They will never feel that laws are applicable to them, only legal citizens. It's sickening how they rationalize their lawlessness, and those in positions of authority simply give them a slap on the wrist.

I still find it amazing how quickly illegal immigrant rights advocates are to complain because certain laws make life harder on those illegally in the country. What I find that is frightening is how quickly the government is to pander to their needs.