JOSEPH DITS
Tribune Staff Writer
December 24. 2007 6:59AM

Anxiety is rising among local undocumented immigrants who fear they
could lose their cars and mobile homes.

Some fears may be unfounded.

It comes as Indiana's Bureau of Motor Vehicles checks its driver's
license and state ID card records with a Social Security database.

In November, the bureau sent letters to 206,000 residents whose records
didn't match -- a mix of races and situations that included native-born
citizens and undocumented immigrants.

If the mismatches aren't resolved by Jan. 31, licenses and ID cards will
be revoked.

And since Nov. 7, the BMV has been checking Social Security records
before issuing any new driver's licenses, ID cards, permits or titles to
cars and mobile homes. That enforces a rule that has been on Indiana's
books since 2001.

But the existing titles to cars and mobile homes won't be affected, BMV
spokesman Dennis Rosebrough said.

Then again, advocates ask, how do you drive without a license?

The rumors seem especially strong in the Goshen area, where many
immigrants live in mobile homes.

"Every single customer that walks in here talks about it," says Sergio
Guajardo, sales manager for the Mexicar used-car lots in Goshen and
Ligonier.

The Goshen lot has gone two months without selling a single car to its
mostly Latino customers. So Mexicar may decide to close the lot in a
couple of months, even though the lot opened six years ago and had
decent sales until now, Guajardo says.

Some folks return cars they'd bought there, thinking they won't be able
to hold onto them, and he adds, "I've been trying to tell people they
should try to wait."

Zulma Prieto, editor of the local Spanish language newspaper, El Puente,
says people have been acting on incomplete information. She, too, has
been looking for clarification as she raises awareness of the possible
risks on the radio, in her paper and in a meeting on the issue last week
in Goshen.

In South Bend, La Casa de Amistad Director Rebecca Ruvalcaba has spoken
with parents who are ridden with anxiety, asking, "What am I going to
do? My children are here and are born here."

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