driver's license

Whether residents of Colorado in the country illegally should be able to obtain a state-issued form of a driver's license received a contentious debate in the House on Monday before lawmakers gave it an initial OK.

Driver’s licenses for immigrants [illegal aliens] living in Colorado illegally will be up for a first vote in a state House committee. [SB 251]

  Read more about Immigrant [illegal alien] Licenses Face Colorado House Review

The Colorado Senate passed on a voice vote a bill on Wednesday [April 24, 2013] to allow immigrants [illegal aliens] who are in the country illegally to obtain a driver's license...

The bill would create a separate process for a new category of driver's licenses that would be marked to ensure the state's continued compliance with federal guidelines, and therefore making the license invalid for boarding an airplane, entering federal buildings or for voting.

Initially the bill, Senate Bill 251, would have required a marked restriction that said "noncitizen," but that language has been replaced by the amendment....

In order to obtain the license, immigrants [illegal aliens] would have to present copies of state tax returns, a federal tax identification number and proof of identity from their country of origin, such as a passport or consulate card....¹

Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, in committee has said he thinks the bill is a step backward for Colorado's system of verifying legality for driver's licenses and questioned if the bill would encourage more people to come to the state illegally...

Colorado barred undocumented immigrants [illegal aliens] from obtaining a driver's license in 1999.

A handful of states, including Washington, New Mexico, Illinois, and just recently Maryland, now allow undocumented immigrants [illegal aliens] to get drivers licenses...

CAIRCO Research:

1. The Mexican matricula consular (illegal alien) ID card is now illegal in Colorado!

When the Mexican government began issuing huge numbers of the non-secure Mexican matricula consular ID card in Colorado, the immediate reaction of the Colorado legislature was to pass HB-1224, the Colorado Secure and Verifiable Identity Document Act. You can read the entire bill on the Colorado Legislature website: Colorado Secure and Verifiable Identity Document Act (HB03-1224).

The Mexican matricula consular ID card: safe or sorry? (2003) Read more about Colorado Senate advances bill allowing driver's licenses for [illegal aliens] immigrants

State senators will debate a measure Wednesday to allow undocumented immigrants [illegal aliens] to obtain driver's licenses in Colorado.

CAIRCO research

Bill Sponsors Contact emails

A federal judge on Friday blocked illegal immigrants in the new "deferred action'' program from arguing in court they are being "irreparably harmed'' by the refusal of Gov. Jan Brewer to let them have Arizona drivers' licenses.

Judge David Campbell agreed to a request by the attorneys for the five individual plaintiffs in the lawsuit that they should not be questioned about how they obtained work or are driving. He said that issue is irrelevant to their legal claims that they are being denied equal rights or that the directive issued by the governor denying them licenses is preempted by federal law.

But Campbell said challengers cannot have it both ways.

"Plaintiffs will not be permitted to argue that they were forced to drive or work illegally and that they are irreparably harmed by the inability to work or drive illegally,'' the judge wrote. He said if information on how they were able to drive and get to work is off-limits to the governor, then the plaintiffs themselves cannot use it for their own legal purposes.

The ruling is significant because one key in the lawsuit filed late last year by the challengers is that the governor's order "severely frustrates their ability to obtain employment and achieve economic self-sufficiency.'' That could undermine their bid to convince Campbell at a hearing scheduled for next month to immediately block the governor's directive and to order the state to start issuing licenses to those affected... Read more about Judge: Illegal immigrants can't argue 'harm' by Arizona driver's license refusal

A former employee of a Bridgeton drivers license fee office and several associates have been sentenced on charges of providing Missouri licenses to illegal immigrants.

Authorities said two men, Ricardo Ortiz and Jorge Fabian Pesqueda Perez, gave illegal immigrants the identifying information of U.S. citizens and sent them to the drivers license fee office. There, Yvette Roberson, 59, of St. Louis, would issue them drivers licenses and other identification documents. They weren't required to establish lawful residency or pass a test, federal authorities said. Read more about Woman, associates, sentenced for helping illegal immigrants get drivers licenses-Missouri

A contingent of civil and immigrant rights organizations launched a lawsuit Thursday against Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, challenging an executive order she issued that denies driver's licenses to some youths who recently received immigration relief and work permits under a new Obama administration program.

"This lawsuit is important because it's basically about the rights of young people to go about their daily lives and ability to be able to support their families," said Shiu-Ming Cheer, coauthor of the suit and immigration attorney with the National Immigration Law Center.

Brewer's order states that Obama's executive order does not grant the youths "any lawful or authorized status and does not entitle them to any additional public benefit."

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CAIRCO Research

  Read more about Arizona lawsuit challenges restrictions on driver's licenses

For young people like Ricardo Muñiz, getting a license and being able to drive would make life much simpler.

Muñiz, 24, lives and works in Anaheim and attends Fullerton College, where he is majoring in international business and international relations. He was brought to the United States from Mexico by his parents at age 7, and doesn't drive. It takes 30 to 45 minutes to get to school by bus, and Muñiz, who lacks legal status, doesn't drive. His mother, he said, even bought him a car – but he sold it to use the money for school.

"I would benefit if I could get a license," he said.

"A lot of us commute long distances to college," Muñiz said of friends he knows. "If we had driver's licenses, it would be easier to community universities, schools and work."

Opponents of the measure say it rewards illegal behavior.

Roy Beck is president of Numbers USA, which he said favors reductions in both legal and illegal immigration.The group fears that giving driver's licenses to people here illegally would open the doors for them to obtain other benefits and documents – even passports.

He said California might be moving too fast. The deferred-action order could be found illegal by the courts. There could be a new president, or changes in Congress following the election.

"It seems like the state is getting involved in something with long-term consequences that's very unstable," he said.

Immigrant rights groups like the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles want to see the measure approved.

Gerson Cortes, 22, who is active in the Orange County Dream Team, says those would benefit most are younger. Many are students who commute by bus to school, and to jobs that support their educations. He walks a half hour to get to Santa Ana College.

Some drive, but it would be much safer for them to have licenses, he said. And it would relieve the stress of fearing a traffic stop and impoundment of their car, which can lead to fees that exceed the value of a vehicle.

  Read more about Licenses: public good or reward for lawbreakers?