12/01/2013   English German
  Edition # 104  
San Francisco, 12-01-2013

Driver's Licenses for illegal immigrants in California
Figure [1]: Will soon be issuing driver's licenses for illegal immigrants: the Department of Motor Vehicles in California (DMV).

Angelika After a decade of back-and-forth, our governor Jerry Brown recently rushed to sign a law without much publicity, that allows the California department of motor vehicles to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. With this law in place, California is the 10th state to allow this practice, and with an estimated number of 3.5 million illegal immigrants, and although it might sound strange, this is actually a fairly pragmatic move. Before the legislative change, many of the illegal immigrants had been driving without a licence and usually also without insurance. In case they got into an accident, it wasn't uncommon for them to speed away from the scene, fearing deportation when authorities would bring their immigration status to light. With the opportunity to obtain legal driving documents, they now have to pass written and a driving tests to at least ensure that they're aware of minimum safety standards, and, equally importantly, they now can legally purchase liability insurance.

Figure [2]: This location will even allow illegal immigrants to take the California driving test.

That's the reason even more conservative organtizations like the California Highway Patrol (CHP) are in favor of this new law. It needs to be said, though, that the driver's licenses issued to illegal immigrants will bear a notice to indicate that it's exclusively issued as a driving permit and not as a valid form of ID. For example, they won't be valid to go through airport security, which is consistent with the regulations of the Department of Homeland Security, which governs airports across the United States. Immigrant groups raised the question if the notice on the license will reveal the holder's immigration status. By California law, it is illegal to discriminate against residents in this way, so there's apparently some kinks in the new law that need to be straightened out. The new documents are supposedly to be issued starting 2015.

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