http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4182644

Thousands shun driver ID cards

By Jennifer W. Sanchez
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune


There could be at least 25,000 people on Utah roads without valid driver permits under the state's new driving privilege card law, designated mostly for undocumented workers.

Undocumented immigrants who had a Utah driver license were required by law to trade it in for a driving privilege card by July 1, but only 55 percent of them actually did - leaving the others with expired Utah licenses, according to state records.

Supporters of the controversial law say they never expected all of the 56,498 people who were eligible for driving privilege cards to obtain them. They say the law is working because it is cracking down on undocumented immigrants from other states coming to Utah for driver licenses and it prevents undocumented workers from having a valid form of state identification.

But opponents of the law question whether it is actually improving public safety when 25,469 people might not have valid driving permits.

"It's working": Nannette Rolfe, the state Driver License Division director, said some of the people who didn't get a driving privilege card don't have a valid tax identification number issued by the Internal Revenue Service. Others moved out of the state or move around. And many never lived in Utah and just came to get a driver license, so there's no way to track them.

"How can we prove they're on the road? How can we prove they live here?" she said.

Each of the 56,498 people who had received a Utah driver license with a tax identification number got a letter from the division in English and Spanish two months prior to their license expiration date informing them about the driving privilege card, Rolfe said.

The best part of the driving privilege cards, Rolfe said, is that the division now has a better record of addresses because applicants are required to show two different proofs of residency. She said it's helpful when law enforcement is trying to track someone down or if there's an emergency. A spokeswoman for Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who signed the bill into law in March 2005, said the governor still supports the law. There is no way to prove that the people who didn't get the driving privilege card are actually driving, said spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley.

"DPS said this law is doing what it was designed to do," she said. "We're content with what we have at this point."

Sen. Curtis Bramble, a Provo Republican who sponsored the driving privilege card legislation, also said the law is working as planned.

The law's purpose was to keep driving and insurance records on drivers as well as eliminate driver licenses for undocumented immigrants who used the card as a "form of validation" to live in Utah, Bramble said. The law was a compromise among lawmakers and some Latino community leaders to allow undocumented immigrants to drive legally instead of doing away with driving permits for them. Earlier this year, Bramble and supporters of the law called attention to a state audit that showed 75 percent of drivers with a driving privilege card have auto insurance, compared with 81 percent of those with a driver license. They trumpeted that the law "was working."

However, the Utah Office of Legislative Auditor General officials and Bramble said they don't think there was ever an audit about auto insurance rates for undocumented immigrants with state driver licenses, so there is no way to compare the data.

Richard Kasteler, president of Insure-Rite, a company that identifies uninsured drivers, said it's a "misconception" that undocumented immigrants don't have auto insurance. Kasteler and auto insurance agents said some Mexicans and those from other countries get insurance using their international driver license.


Public safety? Sen. Mike Dmitrich, a Price Democrat who opposed the law, said he isn't surprised that people aren't signing up for the driving privilege card because it identifies them as "illegal." The Utah Legislature, he said, should be concerned with the data because there are more people driving without a driver license than previously.

"The driving privilege card didn't solve the problem either - if anything, it complicated it," Dmitrich said. "But I don't know the answer either."

Tony Yapias, a community activist who opposed the law, said he doesn't buy that the 25,469 people who didn't trade in their driver licenses live in another state or moved out of Utah.

"It's a risk, a public safety issue, for all of us, not just for undocumented people," he said.

Some 90,000 undocumented migrants live in Utah, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Getting the card: Some Latinos worry that the state is creating a database of driving privilege card holders.

Roger Pool, a 32-year-old construction worker who has a driving privilege card, said undocumented immigrants are scared to get the card because they fear they will be identified on a state list.

Eventually, they fear, U.S. immigration agents will come looking for them, Pool said.

Leo Bravo, executive director of the Multi-Cultural Center of Cache Valley in Logan, teaches a course aimed at educating immigrants about their the state's driving laws and regulations and transportation system. He encourages immigrants to get the driving privilege card, but he said some don't get it because they can't provide proof of residency because they move around or live with several people. Other times, Bravo said, they are afraid of walking into government offices and, more recently, the anti-immigration sentiment in the community.

"Even if they are legal, they are afraid of immigration [officials]," Bravo said. "Anyone in a uniform is a threat. . . . They're coming from countries where police are abusive of their power."

Some Latinos with a driving privilege card said they got it because they want to be law-abiding residents, even though they don't have proper U.S. documentation.

"We're here illegally, but we need to respect the law," said Martin Torres, a West Valley City construction worker.

Torres said he hasn't had any problems with the card, even when he was stopped by a police officer. Torres said the officer "acted fine" and didn't give him a citation.

Maria Diaz, who moved from Mexico to West Valley City 13 years ago, said she traded in her 5-year-old Utah driver license for a driving privilege card because she needs to drive her four kids to school and herself to her job.

"It's a good help for us," Diaz said of the driving privilege card. "We want to do the things right in this country - this is the only way we can drive."
jsanchez@sltrib.com

Come fall, the state Capitol picture on Utah driver licenses and driving privilege cards will be replaced, said state Driver License Division Director Nannette Rolfe.

The cards are undergoing a major redesign but the new look has not been approved. The division is scheduled to start issuing the cards in November, she said.

Rolfe was tight-lipped about any details about the new cards, but she said the driving privilege card will "stand out enough" to law enforcement. The current driving privilege card looks like a driver license but says "Driving Privilege Card" and "Valid for Driving Only Not valid ID for UT Gov't Entity" in red print.

Utahns will not have to get a new license or driving card until their card expires, Rolfe said.
- Jennifer W. Sanchez

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Number of Utah driver licenses issued to people who don't have a Social Security number but who have a tax identification number - from 1999 to 2004: 56,498

Driving privilege cards under new law: Number of cards issued from March 2005 to July 2006: 31,029 Only 55 percent of people traded their driver licenses for driving privilege cards. Number who didn't trade them: 25,469 The driving privilege card:

To apply for a driving privilege card, people must: l Meet requirements for a state driver license, except for having a Social Security number.

* Provide an individual tax identification number from the Internal Revenue Service. l Provide two different proofs of Utah residence.

* Provide a legal name and date of birth.

* The card is valid for one year.

For information about the driving privilege card, call 965-4437 (Spanish-speaking representatives available) or go to http://driverlicense.utah.gov
Source: Utah Department of Public Safety Driver License Division