Thread: Wisconsin: License seekers pour into state

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=405158

License seekers pour into state
3 face charges in latest immigration case
By GINA BARTON
gbarton@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Mar. 1, 2006
For years, illegal immigrants have come from as far away as New Jersey to fraudulently obtain driver's licenses in Wisconsin, one of a handful of states that don't require proof of legal residency.

Business has been booming recently, as more and more states toughen their license requirements, said federal authorities who recently arrested five people in South Milwaukee suspected in a fraudulent license network that reached into three states.

Wisconsin is one of just nine states - for now - that allow illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses and state identification cards.

A federal law authored by U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Menomonee Falls and signed into law in 2005 requires that states meet standards for verifying citizenship by May 2008. If states don't comply, federal officials won't accept that state's cards as identification for purposes such as boarding planes.

A bill to change the law here has passed both houses of the Legislature and is awaiting the governor's signature.

Three people allegedly involved in the ring have been charged with immigration violations and appeared Wednesday in federal court in Milwaukee. The investigation is continuing, and more charges are expected, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol Kraft.

The probe involves people living in Wisconsin, Illinois and New Jersey. It came to authorities' attention last week, when four illegal immigrants - two from Brazil, one from Ecuador and one from Portugal - showed up at a Department of Motor Vehicles branch in South Milwaukee trying to get licenses. Employees became suspicious and called the police, who contacted federal authorities, Kraft said.

The four were arrested. Two told authorities they had traveled in a rental vehicle from New Jersey, spent the night in Chicago and then came to Wisconsin, where they met up with Fernando Adame, 43. They also said Adame, an Ecuadorean national who has been living in Illinois since at least 1995, then drove them to the license branch. Authorities believe Adame - himself in the country illegally - and his associates have made similar trips between two and four times a month for several years, Kraft said during a hearing Wednesday. She said they were paid, but did not say how much.

"He is part of a group that has been involved for some time in obtaining false documents for illegal aliens. Some of them are prior felons who don't belong here," Kraft told U.S. Magistrate Judge William E. Callahan Jr.

According to statements made in court, one of the illegal immigrants arrested at the license branch, Luis D. Dacosta, owns a construction company in New Jersey. Dacosta, a Portugese man who has been living in the U.S. illegally for 16 years, has a valid New Jersey license. But since he got it, the law there has changed. When his New Jersey license expires later this month, he won't be able to get it renewed without proof that he is in the country legally. So he came to Wisconsin.

Right now, Wisconsin allows illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses, but only if they show proof that they live here. People commonly show utility bills for that purpose.

According to the criminal complaint, when Adame was arrested, he had many telephone bills, electric bills and gas bills in his possession with different names and Wisconsin addresses on them. He also had several applications for driver's licenses and identification cards (some already filled out), as well as a manual for the road test and the answers to the vision test in Spanish. Adame also had a list of names, addresses and telephone numbers, some of whom authorities believe already have gotten licenses.

Adame has been charged with transporting illegal aliens and conspiracy to possess a fraudulent identification document. Dacosta and Greice Cardoso, a Brazilian national who also came here from New Jersey, both have been charged as part of the conspiracy as well. If convicted, each faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Callahan ordered Adame detained without bond. Dacosta and Cardoso, both of whom are cooperating with authorities, were released on signature bonds and allowed to return to New Jersey while the case is pending.

The other two illegal immigrants arrested in South Milwaukee, one who was previously deported and one who has a criminal record, were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for immediate deportation.

To Rep. Mark Gundrum (R-New Berlin), co-author of the Wisconsin bill requiring proof of legal residency from Wisconsin driver's license applicants, the incident highlights why Wisconsin shouldn't continue to be one of the few states not to make the requirements stricter. Under the bill, citizens would have to show a birth certificate or passport. Legal residents would have to show proof of residence and a date when their legal alien status expires, which would be printed on the license.

"Wisconsin has become a magnet for people illegally in the country to get a driver's license," he said. "You get over the border and you're coming here . . . there's no way to confirm that you're legally here."

Dan Leistikow, spokesman for Gov. Jim Doyle, said this incident is an example of how the system needs to be tightened up so that Wisconsin doesn't become a place where people go for fake driver's licenses.

Stacy Forster of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report

Not to wish any ill will on the fine American citizens in Wisconsin but I hope it snows all summer and those illegal aliens freeze their tutus off!