Those of you who look at these issues as confined to the border states need to look again.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...et+illegal+aliens+drive+legally+in+Illinois++
Bill would let illegal aliens drive legally in Illinois
By Eun-Kyung Kim
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/31/2004
On any given day, Juan Francisco Aparicio will drive his children to the doctor's office, his wife to the grocery and himself to work. Yet, he doesn't have a drivers license.
He can't apply for one because he doesn't have a Social Security card, which he can't get because he is not a legal resident. He moved to Illinois seven years ago from Sacatecas, Mexico, and, like hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers who lack a license, drives a car anyway. Every day.
"Everyone does it. They have to," said Aparicio, 31, who works at a nursery in Albers.
The Illinois House is scheduled to take up a bill today that would allow people without Social Security numbers to apply for special drivers licenses. The bill is similar to measures introduced in previous legislative sessions, but supporters say this year's version has added several provisions to address security concerns.
Similar legislation in Missouri, which has about 25,000 to 50,000 undocumented immigrants according to some estimates, failed to thrive in recent years. The issue continues to be a priority for some state lawmakers, but no formal proposal has been introduced this session.
Under the Illinois bill, HB4003, at least 300,000 undocumented immigrants in Illinois could be eligible to apply for the special licenses, said the measure's chief sponsor, Rep. Edward Acevedo, D-Chicago.
The bill, supporters say, would allow undocumented workers learn rudimentary driving safety rules. It also could help lower automobile insurance rates by slashing the number of uninsured drivers on the road because, theoretically, new license recipients could finally obtain insurance.
"The people that we're speaking of drive their vehicles anyway," Acevedo said. "You have people who now need to go and take a driving test. They have to know the rules of the road. They have to have insurance."
Chiquita Vega-Laruy, an insurance broker in St. Louis, said she gets calls daily from undocumented immigrants who lack a drivers license but are seeking auto insurance anyway. "They all have been trying to do the right thing," she said.
Opponents to the measure don't buy that argument, saying that anyone who buys auto insurance can drop their policy immediately after getting an insurance card.
Brian R. Perryman, former director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service district office in Chicago, also said there is no guarantee that such drivers would obey the law when it comes to traffic altercations.
"You're encouraging illegal immigration to Missouri and Illinois and other states that might consider doing this, because they know they can get a valid identity document, which can then become a breeder document for counterfeit identities," Perryman said. He called the idea of issuing the special licenses "a tremendous mistake."
Under the bill, applicants must have a tax identification number and agree to relinquish any bogus identification cards they have. They also would be fingerprinted, undergo a criminal background check and pay a $15 surcharge to cover administrative costs. The licenses would look different than a regular card, although just how would be determined by the secretary of state's office.
If Illinois eventually passes the law, it would join Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin as states with similar legislation, according to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. California was on that list until Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger repealed the measure last year.
Dave Gorak, executive director of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration, said his organization opposes the bill because it encourages undocumented immigrants to remain in the country illegally.
"We are a nation of laws, or we are not, and there is no middle ground. This is about the rule of law, not about making life easier for criminals, and illegal aliens are criminals," he said.
Josh Hoyt, executive director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, disagreed.
"It's not like they like living in the shadows or having to purchase fraudulent ID. They do what they need to for survival, but they are, by and large, hardworking, law-abiding people who would much prefer to be, as much as they can, living inside the law," he said. "People who would voluntarily go in and get fingerprinted, get photographed, give their home address, prove who they are, even knowing that probably increases their risk of deportation - you have to figure those are basically pretty law-abiding people."
Pedro, who works with Aparicio at the same nursery, said many people like himself drive constantly, though they don't have a license.
"What choice do people have? It's something we have to do," he said through a translator.
Aparicio said getting a drivers license would help take away some of the anxiety that he and others like himself feel while on the road.
"It would be important to get at least a drivers license so you can drive without fear of being stopped by police," he said through a translator during a break from work recently. "It would be safer. Although we drive with caution, we would drive with more caution if we had a license."
Lynda Callon, co-coordinator for Missourians for Safer Roads, said "99.9 percent" of the undocumented immigrants she works with at her Kansas City day laborers site do not pose a threat to anyone.
"The driver license merely lets them go to the work, which they're already doing, go to the grocery store, which they're already doing, take the kids to doctors and dentists and school and church, just like everybody else," she said. "Not having a drivers license has never stopped one person from driving if they wanted to drive, ever."
Reporter Eun-Kyung Kim
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 314-340-8116
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...et+illegal+aliens+drive+legally+in+Illinois++
Bill would let illegal aliens drive legally in Illinois
By Eun-Kyung Kim
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/31/2004
On any given day, Juan Francisco Aparicio will drive his children to the doctor's office, his wife to the grocery and himself to work. Yet, he doesn't have a drivers license.
He can't apply for one because he doesn't have a Social Security card, which he can't get because he is not a legal resident. He moved to Illinois seven years ago from Sacatecas, Mexico, and, like hundreds of thousands of undocumented workers who lack a license, drives a car anyway. Every day.
"Everyone does it. They have to," said Aparicio, 31, who works at a nursery in Albers.
The Illinois House is scheduled to take up a bill today that would allow people without Social Security numbers to apply for special drivers licenses. The bill is similar to measures introduced in previous legislative sessions, but supporters say this year's version has added several provisions to address security concerns.
Similar legislation in Missouri, which has about 25,000 to 50,000 undocumented immigrants according to some estimates, failed to thrive in recent years. The issue continues to be a priority for some state lawmakers, but no formal proposal has been introduced this session.
Under the Illinois bill, HB4003, at least 300,000 undocumented immigrants in Illinois could be eligible to apply for the special licenses, said the measure's chief sponsor, Rep. Edward Acevedo, D-Chicago.
The bill, supporters say, would allow undocumented workers learn rudimentary driving safety rules. It also could help lower automobile insurance rates by slashing the number of uninsured drivers on the road because, theoretically, new license recipients could finally obtain insurance.
"The people that we're speaking of drive their vehicles anyway," Acevedo said. "You have people who now need to go and take a driving test. They have to know the rules of the road. They have to have insurance."
Chiquita Vega-Laruy, an insurance broker in St. Louis, said she gets calls daily from undocumented immigrants who lack a drivers license but are seeking auto insurance anyway. "They all have been trying to do the right thing," she said.
Opponents to the measure don't buy that argument, saying that anyone who buys auto insurance can drop their policy immediately after getting an insurance card.
Brian R. Perryman, former director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service district office in Chicago, also said there is no guarantee that such drivers would obey the law when it comes to traffic altercations.
"You're encouraging illegal immigration to Missouri and Illinois and other states that might consider doing this, because they know they can get a valid identity document, which can then become a breeder document for counterfeit identities," Perryman said. He called the idea of issuing the special licenses "a tremendous mistake."
Under the bill, applicants must have a tax identification number and agree to relinquish any bogus identification cards they have. They also would be fingerprinted, undergo a criminal background check and pay a $15 surcharge to cover administrative costs. The licenses would look different than a regular card, although just how would be determined by the secretary of state's office.
If Illinois eventually passes the law, it would join Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin as states with similar legislation, according to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. California was on that list until Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger repealed the measure last year.
Dave Gorak, executive director of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration, said his organization opposes the bill because it encourages undocumented immigrants to remain in the country illegally.
"We are a nation of laws, or we are not, and there is no middle ground. This is about the rule of law, not about making life easier for criminals, and illegal aliens are criminals," he said.
Josh Hoyt, executive director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, disagreed.
"It's not like they like living in the shadows or having to purchase fraudulent ID. They do what they need to for survival, but they are, by and large, hardworking, law-abiding people who would much prefer to be, as much as they can, living inside the law," he said. "People who would voluntarily go in and get fingerprinted, get photographed, give their home address, prove who they are, even knowing that probably increases their risk of deportation - you have to figure those are basically pretty law-abiding people."
Pedro, who works with Aparicio at the same nursery, said many people like himself drive constantly, though they don't have a license.
"What choice do people have? It's something we have to do," he said through a translator.
Aparicio said getting a drivers license would help take away some of the anxiety that he and others like himself feel while on the road.
"It would be important to get at least a drivers license so you can drive without fear of being stopped by police," he said through a translator during a break from work recently. "It would be safer. Although we drive with caution, we would drive with more caution if we had a license."
Lynda Callon, co-coordinator for Missourians for Safer Roads, said "99.9 percent" of the undocumented immigrants she works with at her Kansas City day laborers site do not pose a threat to anyone.
"The driver license merely lets them go to the work, which they're already doing, go to the grocery store, which they're already doing, take the kids to doctors and dentists and school and church, just like everybody else," she said. "Not having a drivers license has never stopped one person from driving if they wanted to drive, ever."
Reporter Eun-Kyung Kim
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 314-340-8116
Certainly got the first three letters of assistant correct. 