Thread: TX: DPS cracks down on illegal immigrants

I wonder how long it will take the forgers of DL and documents to retool their equipment?

I'm shocked! I thought Texas was going down the drain with corupt politicians. Mmmm, guess fighting the Trans-Texas Coridor woke some people up.....

So will they renew Illegals Licenses that were issued before the law after they expire?

Web Posted: 10/09/2008 9:34 CDT Immigrant advocates troubled by new DPS rule READcomments

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Recommend 0 G. Chambers Williams - G. Chambers Williams III Immigrant advocates and some politicians in South Texas were flummoxed with the handling and timing of a state agency’s move to bar unauthorized immigrants from obtaining driver’s licenses — a move some predict will boost the number of unlicensed and uninsured drivers on Texas roads.

Labeling the policy change as sudden, rash and possibly dubious, they began mobilizing Thursday to try to find out how it all came about. The new rule requires noncitizens to prove they are in the country legally before they are issued a new license, renew an existing one or apply for a state identification card.

“[b]They may not even have the legal authority,â€

Alas here in California we have to deal with one bill Gil.

New driver's license rule upsets some immigrants

They say document requirement will boost number of illegal motorists

By JAMES PINKERTON and CLAY ROBISON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle


A little-noticed administrative change preventing illegal immigrants from obtaining a Texas driver's license has upset immigrant groups, lawmakers and Hispanic activists, who predict it will boost the number of unlicensed and uninsured drivers on Texas roads. Others fear it will boost a robust black market trade in counterfeit documents.

The Texas Department of Public Safety is already enforcing the new rule in Houston, which requires noncitizens to prove they are in the country legally before they are issued a new license, renew an existing one or apply for a state identification card.

"It's a bad idea," said Rick Dovalina, a Houston attorney and past national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "If you look at it strictly as a public policy, the undocumented should be issued a driver license because they would be able to drive legally, and buy insurance, and protect other people in case they have an accident."

Dovalina said Texas officials should issue a license to any resident who can present a valid identity document, such as an identification card issued by the Mexican Consulate, regardless of their immigration status.

But the change, which took effect on Oct. 1, was hailed by those who favor tightening immigration enforcement.

"It's great," said Louise Whiteford, president of the Houston-based Texans for Immigration Reform. "We need to know who's here. We need to have some restrictions on who gets a driver's license."

DPS officials insist the rule changes are not an anti-immigrant measure, but intended to safeguard the licensing process and reduce identity fraud and theft.

"We implemented the new regulations statewide at the beginning of business on October 1," said Tela Mange, a DPS spokeswoman in Austin. "We've not received any negative reaction at this point."

Mange said the changes were posted in the Texas Register on July 4. There were no public comments, for or against, during a 30-day public comment period.


Change got little attention

The changes were adopted by the Public Safety Commission, the DPS' governing board, during a public meeting on Aug. 25 but garnered scant public attention through the summer.

The changes were posted on the DPS Web site on Oct. 1, the day they went into effect. But otherwise the agency made no public announcement, allowing Gov. Rick Perry to announce the new policy on Thursday, a week later.

"There was open discussion on this issue in at least two meetings, and we certainly discussed it fully," said Allan Polunsky, the committee's chairman.

The four-member commission was appointed by Perry, but Polunsky said the rule change was his, not Perry's, idea. He said the change relates to public security and safety, and it was "not focused toward illegal immigration in the classic sense."

Even though the Legislature had rejected earlier proposals to enact similar changes into law, Polunsky said the commission had the authority to impose the rule change, under its authority to "enhance public safety and to adopt procedures for issuing Texas driver licenses."

"This is a security issue in our minds. We want to know who these people are coming into our driver license offices," said Polunsky, a San Antonio lawyer. "It's not profiling or anything of that nature."


Profiling alleged

But at least one Texas lawmaker, Rep. Robert A. Alonzo, D-Dallas, called the DPS rule change unlawful profiling and said the state agency is ill-equipped to enforce federal immigration laws.

Polunsky said U.S. citizens will be able to renew their licenses as before.

State officials, however, will request documentation from individuals seeking renewals whose records on file with the agency indicate they are noncitizens.

Mange said that under the old system, immigrants checked a box on their driver's license applications indicating they weren't citizens. They also filed affidavits saying they were ineligible for Social Security cards, which were otherwise required for licenses.

But they were issued licenses anyway, as long as they could prove their identity and submit documents, such as utility bills, indicating their local address. Utility bills and similar documents no longer will be accepted, Mange said, and were being phased out even before the new policy was adopted.

Eli Garcia, a 39-year-old illegal immigrant, was standing in line preparing to check on his driving record at a driver's license office in north Houston when he heard about the new rule that will prevent him from renewing his license later this year.

"Before I got my license, I was driving without one and without insurance for five or six years," said Garcia, a Mexican immigrant who came to Houston in 1989 and established a construction business. "I guess that is going to happen again."

In the past, Garcia said, he, too, would file an affidavit stating he was ineligible for a Social Security card to renew his license.


'Assault' on immigrants
Nelson Reyes, executive director of the Central American Refugee Center in Houston, described the DPS rule change as just the latest restrictionist assault on immigrants.

"Once again, the hard-working immigration community is being punished by the state of Texas," Reyes said. "They have made a decision to change the rules in the middle of the game without waiting for comprehensive immigration reform."

But at the Houston driver's license office, air-conditioning technician Roger Cook favored the tougher rules for immigrants.

"If they're here illegally, they shouldn't be able to have the privileges of American citizens," said Cook, adding he missed six months of work last year while recovering from injuries received when an undocumented driver slammed into his car.

"We'll find out who's here illegally, and it will cut down on a lot of the fraud and stealing of IDs," said Cook.

james.pinkerton@chron.com

clay.robison@chron.com

This will have a huge impact, there are so many IAs in Texas. I am sure the lawyers are waking up to this by now and will clock many hours at
$400.00 per hr.

No one showed at the public hearings or sent comments! They must have been hanging around Home Depot or at the welfare office, time to get the lazy liberal MSM to write some sob storys.

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Renewing a driver's license can involve clearing lots of hurdles
By SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 9, 2009, 10:38PM
Pakistan native Adeel Mehmood started building a life in Houston after the U.S. government granted him asylum more than two years ago.

He graduated from the University of Houston, settled into a home in Garden Oaks and saved money from his restaurant job to buy his dream car: a new Toyota Camry.

The 25-year-old still faithfully makes payments on the Camry — and on his insurance — even though the state of Texas in December denied his application to renew his driver's license, citing a new policy that took effect Oct. 1 requiring specific documentation to prove an applicant's legal immigration status.

Three months after the policy took effect, critics are pointing to a growing list of cases involving legal immigrants who have been significantly delayed or outright rejected in their efforts to get or renew licenses, despite being authorized to live and work legally in the U.S.

"I have always maintained my legal status," Mehmood said. "It's not fair to people who want to live here and follow the law."

Under the policy change, only applicants who have documents showing they have permission to stay in the U.S. for at least six months are eligible for Texas driver's licenses.

But immigration attorneys are reporting that people who meet that criterion — but are unable to produce documents required by the DPS to prove their legal status — are still being turned away.

For example, Mehmood said he was rejected by the DPS after being told his letter from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services granting him asylum wasn't specifically listed on DPS's list of acceptable forms.

The Texas chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association is pushing for revisions to the policy, adopted by the Texas Public Safety Commission in August, saying the list of acceptable DPS documents needs to be expanded to include several forms of legal status that allow for a six-month stay or longer in the U.S. They also are pushing the state to make allowances for delays in processing times sometimes caused by USCIS.

"This is going to end up impacting lots and lots of people," said John Nechman, a Houston immigration attorney. "Every day there seems to be another example."


Designed to curb fraud
Supporters of the new policy, including Gov. Rick Perry, said the state is safer because of the more stringent document checks, which are designed to stop illegal immigrants from getting licenses and to combat fraud and identity theft. The agency has issued more than 15,000 "visitor" licenses to immigrants statewide since October, said Tela Mange, a DPS spokeswoman.

Allan Polunsky, chairman of the Public Safety Commission, which oversees the DPS, said the policy change was not intended to deny legal immigrants the opportunity to drive.

"If there is a problem in the process, then it should and will be addressed," Polunsky said. "We have to look at all the facts before we make any changes, but certainly we want to be fair."

D. Jackson Chaney, an immigration attorney in Irving, said the DPS did not consult any immigration lawyers or experts when it put together the rule and left out several forms of legal status that allow immigrants to stay in the country beyond six months. The list includes refugees as well as some immigrants who were granted green cards before those documents had expiration dates.

"They're being denied licenses on ridiculous grounds, frankly, because DPS simply does not know immigration law," Chaney said. "It's really a mess."


Paperwork delay
In some cases, even though driver's license applicants have immigration documents that appear to expire within six months, they may still have legal status from USCIS as long as they have a pending application for an extension, attorneys said. But it can sometimes take immigration officials six to 12 months or longer to process the paperwork, leaving applicants unable to drive legally for months at a time.

Mathias Ricken, a doctoral candidate and computer science instructor at Rice University, made four trips to the DPS office in November and December to get his temporary driver's license approved.

Ricken, who is in the U.S. on a student visa from Germany, called ahead on Nov. 19 to find out what documents he needed, but each time he went to the office, he was asked for more. He eventually got approved for the license after presenting documents including: his Texas ID card, his German passport, three different immigration forms, a Social Security card, a certificate of enrollment, a tuition receipt and a signed and stamped letter from the director of Rice's Office of International Students and Scholars.

The letter was not required, but Ricken thought it might help. "I think it's right to require that you identify yourself in the proper way and show that you are in the country legally," he said. "The problem is more in the details."


Unusual case
The problem has turned into more than a nuisance for Mehmood.

His driver's license expired in November. Mehmood has made multiple visits to DPS offices since then, each time carrying a thick three-ring binder of immigration documents and his work authorization.

Mehmood said he was told that his letter granting asylum and other immigration documents were not sufficient proof of his legal status. He also was told he was ineligible because his "I-94," a standard U.S. customs form for foreigners, had no expiration date, which is common for asylees, who are allowed to stay in the U.S. indefinitely.

Mange, the DPS spokeswoman, said she would look into Mehmood's case.

susan.carroll@chron.com

Sure is nice to be able to read a story like this in Texas


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 03794.html

If they are here illegally--they should take the bus. The one that goes one-way to Mexico or the country of their birth.

Civil rights group sues DPS over license rule © 2009 The Associated Press
Jan. 14, 2009, 2:08PM
Share
Print Email Del.icio.usDiggTechnoratiYahoo! BuzzAUSTIN — Civil rights advocates are suing the Texas Department of Public Safety to block new driver's license requirements for immigrants, contending they discriminate against people legally in the United States.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in state district court seeks to force DPS to stop enforcing the rules, which went into effect Oct. 1.

Jim Harrington, the group's director, called the rules "an unconscionable burden on immigrant survivors of domestic abuse and discriminatory against the Hispanic community."

The new rules require non-citizens to show official work authorization proof in the form of an official employment authorization document every six months to renew their licenses.

Supporters of the new policy, including Gov. Rick Perry, say the rules were designed to keep illegal immigrants from getting licenses and fight fraud and identity theft.

The suit was filed on behalf of three women, all legally working in the United States, who have been denied or likely will be denied license renewals because the DPS doesn't accept their work authorization status.

Two of the plaintiffs are Sonia Castillo, a Mexican national who lives in Austin, and Jocelyn Alvarez Torres, a Mexican national living in Mount Pleasant. Victims of domestic abuse, they are in this country legally under the federal Violence Against Woman Act, Harrington said.

The third plaintiff, identified only as "Jane Doe," is a political refugee from Honduras living in Houston.

___

Information from the Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6211086.html