Washington makes it a little harder for illegal immigrants to pretend to be citizens
Published Thu, May 10 2007 5:53 PM
Technorati Tags: Immigration
Every now and then the state of Washington does something that almost shakes my faith in its firm placement as a proud member of the left coast, but this article from the Seattle Times points to one such occasion:
New Washington drivers must now prove state residency before they can get a driver's license.
...
In the past, he said, people could use passports or other identification that didn't prove residency to get a license. "We are strengthening our checking process," he said.
The change was driven by cases in which drivers — particularly commercial drivers who aren't in the country legally — would come to Washington to get a driver's license because the state doesn't require proof of citizenship. They then would take their licenses back to their home states and exchange them for their state's license.
Sadly some of the items that pass for proof of residency still might allow illegal immigrants to get drivers licenses, but it's a start...
Acceptable forms of identification are home utility bills dated within two months of the date of application for a license, rental agreements, home mortgage information, or Washington voter registration cards.
Benfield said there are seven states that do not require proof of legal residence in the United States to obtain a driver's license.
Washington still appears to be one. A home utility bill isn't proof of legal residence in the United States, but it beats the heck out of a Matricula Consular card.
In 2006, more than 248,000 people applied for a first-time drivers license, 86,000 received an instruction permit and 103,000 obtained an ID card. In addition, 14,000 out-of-state drivers obtained licenses in Washington.
For information on acceptable documents to prove residency go to www.dol.wa.gov.
Now if only Washington would go that one extra step, and verify that non-citizens are here legally before granting drivers licenses.
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Perri Nelson responded with:
The list of acceptable alternate documents to prove your identity includes the discredited Matricula Consular card. The good thing is that's not enough. You also need 4 other "alternate" documents. So you could use a local school yearbook with your photo in it, a school transcript, a foreign voting card, and an auto insurance policy. None of those are hard to get if you're not here legally, especially the last one.
Also while a social security number is required, you can simply sign a declaration that you don't have one.
I guess it was too good to be true after all. What's worse, you can get a voter registration card at the same time you get your drivers license. and you don't even have to be in the United States legally.
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