DPS cracks down on illegal immigrants

[peejay 327]

DPS cracks down on illegal immigrants

Texas now requiring proof of legal status before issuing a driver's license

By CLAY ROBISON

2008 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — In a clampdown on illegal immigrants, the Texas Department of Public Safety has adopted a new policy requiring noncitizens to prove they are in this country legally before they can obtain or renew a driver's license.

Gov. Rick Perry applauded the change, which went into effect Oct. 1, as a way to strengthen the state's security.

"Texas is a great place to live and work, and while we welcome legally documented individuals to the Lone Star State, we must ensure that this privilege is not abused by those seeking to enter our country illegally," he said.

But Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said the policy change is a bad idea because illegal immigrants are going to drive anyway.

"People have to drive to get to work. You want people to get (auto) insurance. They can't get insurance if they don't have a driver's license," he said.

The immigrant driver's licenses will look different than regular licenses so that they are immediately recognizable to police, Perry said.

The immigrant licenses will have a "temporary visitor" designation and the date the driver's legal U.S. admission expires.

No driver's license will be issued for anyone whose legal entry into the country expires in less than six months.

People with indefinite admission periods will get one-year licenses that will have to be renewed in person with proof that the applicant's lawful status has been extended.

Under the change, people who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States must present valid governmental documentation that they are in the country legally before they can obtain a driver's license or personal identification card.

The documents must be issued by the Department of Justice, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Natu-ralization Service or Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Border crossing cards won't be accepted.

Lawful permanent residents must present valid immigrant visas or U.S. resident alien cards before getting licenses.

U.S. citizens seeking an initial application for a license have various options for proving citizenship, including a U.S. passport, citizenship certificate or a combination of other documents, including a birth certificate, military records and voter registration card.

State law also requires all applicants for driver's licenses to provide a Social Security number.

But applicants can bypass that requirement by signing an affidavit that they have been deemed ineligible for coverage.

The affidavit doesn't require applicants to state why they have been denied Social Security coverage, DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said. And, she added, illegal immigrants could have obtained licenses by submitting fake Social Security cards.

She said the Public Safety Commission, the DPS' governing board, imposed the new restrictions for immigrants on its own. Similar changes in policy have been proposed by legislators, but none of those bills has ever become law.

"The commission wanted to make sure the driver's licenses and identification cards were as secure documents as we could make them," she said.

The DPS estimates that as many as 2 million of Texas' 16 million licensed drivers — one in eight — may be immigrants, many in the country illegally, Mange said.

"That's nonsense," Harring-ton said of the estimate. "I don't think anybody has any idea."

Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, agreed.

"The idea that there's a flood of people (illegal immigrants) going into DPS offices, signing a form saying they're not eligible for a Social Security card and then getting driver's licenses is unbelievable," he said.

Coleman said the crackdown was election year "demagoguery" by Perry.

"It (immigration) is the issue that galvanizes their (Republican) base," he said.

Public Safety Commission Chairman Allan Polunsky, of San Antonio, said he initiated the policy change after learning of a taxi driver in Dallas who had brought undocumented workers into Texas from other states so they could obtain Texas driver's licenses.

Polunsky said he didn't know the taxi driver's motives but found it disconcerting that illegal immigrants could easily obtain driver's licenses in Texas.

He said the new restrictions also bring Texas into closer compliance with the federal REAL ID Act, which requires states to create specially marked licenses for some immigrants.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6047852.html

[payxibka 10,048]

It is or has been the situation in many other states for some time... The impetus is the federal legislation REAL ID, I guess Texas was slower than other states to enact... but it should not have been a total surprise. Many new laws and provisions go in effect at the beginning of a state's fiscal year

Edited October 9, 2008 by payxibka

[Niels Bohr 72]

This is a good idea! It'll hinder more illegal Mexicans from overpopulating other immigrants!

[pedroh 21]

This is a good idea! It'll hinder more illegal Mexicans from overpopulating other immigrants!

haha no need for this.. illegals are leaving the USA.. there's no money in this country..

[NickD 203]

This is a good idea! It'll hinder more illegal Mexicans from overpopulating other immigrants!

haha no need for this.. illegals are leaving the USA.. there's no money in this country..

WI put that law into effect last November, had a hell of a time helping my wife get her driver's license renewed as they never heard of a one year extension notice. After I proved that such a thing existed, only wanted to renew her license to the date of her expiration. Said, this is BS, governor did appoint a new immigration officer, okay, he was a nice guy and all that, but didn't know ####### about immigration. Spend over a week with him on the phone and the fax machine educating him, finally agreed to let my wife have her eight year license.

Faxed him a copy of her certificate of naturalization first thing after she got it. He replied, really didn't have to do that, she need only check that she is a USC on her next application.

Can't really blame the states, claim illegals are costing them a fortune with no help from the feds and the feds are doing nothing. This is one reason I feel our state system is crazy, we are only one person, but have many different levels of law to deal with, and many of them, conflict.

[peejay 327]

My favorite quote from the whole article is from the usual illegal alien cheerleading squad:

But Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said the policy change is a bad idea because illegal immigrants are going to drive anyway.

Yeah, right. And they are going to illegally immigrate and illegally work too along with the usual document fraud, identity theft, tax evasion, etc., etc. So since they are going to break all these laws anyway we should just accomodate them? What an idiot!

BTW: Obama wants to give them all driver's licenses too and has publicly stated this numerable times. Yes, let's just give them another incentive to illegally immigrate. They can then drive to their illegal work while in the USA illegally. Brilliant! I'm impressed with the wisdom of that logic. Another idiot.

[Ban Hammer 14,269]

about time.

[EstebanTrabajos 7]

Man I was freaking out already!

Thought that the VJ minute men were long gone! ufff! That was close!

You are back! HIIIIIIIII!

[HAL 9000 96]

Well, nothing new. Other states have been doing so for a while now.

Next step- car dealers must be forced to check for status so they don't sell cars to non US-Driver's License carrying customers.

Good luck with that one in this economy.

[MissStacey 1]

Shouldn't this have been a policy right from the beginning?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Shouldn't this have been a policy right from the beginning?

That would have made too much sense. It is much better to try to solve the problem when it is on an enormous scale instead of nipping it in the bud.

[panamania79 2]

DPS cracks down on illegal immigrants

Texas now requiring proof of legal status before issuing a driver's license

By CLAY ROBISON

2008 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — In a clampdown on illegal immigrants, the Texas Department of Public Safety has adopted a new policy requiring noncitizens to prove they are in this country legally before they can obtain or renew a driver's license.

Gov. Rick Perry applauded the change, which went into effect Oct. 1, as a way to strengthen the state's security.

"Texas is a great place to live and work, and while we welcome legally documented individuals to the Lone Star State, we must ensure that this privilege is not abused by those seeking to enter our country illegally," he said.

But Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said the policy change is a bad idea because illegal immigrants are going to drive anyway.

"People have to drive to get to work. You want people to get (auto) insurance. They can't get insurance if they don't have a driver's license," he said.

The immigrant driver's licenses will look different than regular licenses so that they are immediately recognizable to police, Perry said.

The immigrant licenses will have a "temporary visitor" designation and the date the driver's legal U.S. admission expires.

No driver's license will be issued for anyone whose legal entry into the country expires in less than six months.

People with indefinite admission periods will get one-year licenses that will have to be renewed in person with proof that the applicant's lawful status has been extended.

Under the change, people who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States must present valid governmental documentation that they are in the country legally before they can obtain a driver's license or personal identification card.

The documents must be issued by the Department of Justice, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Natu-ralization Service or Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Border crossing cards won't be accepted.

Lawful permanent residents must present valid immigrant visas or U.S. resident alien cards before getting licenses.

U.S. citizens seeking an initial application for a license have various options for proving citizenship, including a U.S. passport, citizenship certificate or a combination of other documents, including a birth certificate, military records and voter registration card.

State law also requires all applicants for driver's licenses to provide a Social Security number.

But applicants can bypass that requirement by signing an affidavit that they have been deemed ineligible for coverage.

The affidavit doesn't require applicants to state why they have been denied Social Security coverage, DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said. And, she added, illegal immigrants could have obtained licenses by submitting fake Social Security cards.

She said the Public Safety Commission, the DPS' governing board, imposed the new restrictions for immigrants on its own. Similar changes in policy have been proposed by legislators, but none of those bills has ever become law.

"The commission wanted to make sure the driver's licenses and identification cards were as secure documents as we could make them," she said.

The DPS estimates that as many as 2 million of Texas' 16 million licensed drivers — one in eight — may be immigrants, many in the country illegally, Mange said.

"That's nonsense," Harring-ton said of the estimate. "I don't think anybody has any idea."

Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, agreed.

"The idea that there's a flood of people (illegal immigrants) going into DPS offices, signing a form saying they're not eligible for a Social Security card and then getting driver's licenses is unbelievable," he said.

Coleman said the crackdown was election year "demagoguery" by Perry.

"It (immigration) is the issue that galvanizes their (Republican) base," he said.

Public Safety Commission Chairman Allan Polunsky, of San Antonio, said he initiated the policy change after learning of a taxi driver in Dallas who had brought undocumented workers into Texas from other states so they could obtain Texas driver's licenses.

Polunsky said he didn't know the taxi driver's motives but found it disconcerting that illegal immigrants could easily obtain driver's licenses in Texas.

He said the new restrictions also bring Texas into closer compliance with the federal REAL ID Act, which requires states to create specially marked licenses for some immigrants.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6047852.html

They tried doing that in Rhode Island but the advocacy groups and the Catholic Dioscese whooped,hollered, and whined and got it overturned.

This is a good idea! It'll hinder more illegal Mexicans from overpopulating other immigrants!

haha no need for this.. illegals are leaving the USA.. there's no money in this country..

I know.Many are going to Europe now.I'm hearing it's just as bad over there.

[Sprailenes 47]

This is a good idea! It'll hinder more illegal Mexicans from overpopulating other immigrants!

haha no need for this.. illegals are leaving the USA.. there's no money in this country..

true dat!