Can you prove you’re a citizen?
Via The Portland Tribune
Immigration concerns could lead to tougher DMV regulations
The 2007 Oregon Legislature must decide whether to require everyone applying for a state driver’s license to prove they are in this country legally and have a valid Social Security number.
Oregon law does not currently require those applying for driver’s licenses to be U.S. citizens or legal aliens. But a 2005 federal law called the Real ID Act requires all states to issue driver’s licenses only to legal U.S. residents with proof of their citizenship status. The act was passed for a variety of purposes, including cracking down on potential illegal immigrants, fraud, ID theft and child-support evaders.
Under the act, citizens will be required to produce birth certificates, naturalization papers or passports. Legal aliens will have to show their immigration and residency documents. The act also requires all applicants to have valid Social Security numbers.
The requirements would apply to both new applicants and people renewing their licenses.
All state governments must comply with the law by May 2008. If not, the driver’s licenses and identification cards they issue will not be accepted as identification for such federally regulated activities as boarding an airplane, opening a checking account, collecting Social Security benefits or qualifying for federally guaranteed student loans.
State Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown, D-Portland, said it is too early to know what the Legislature will do because the federal government has not yet finished writing the rules to implement the law. But Brown is concerned that Congress has not appropriated any money to help pay for the new licenses, which, she says, could cost up to $100 each to issue.
“People aren’t going to be willing to pay that, and there will be gridlock at airports if the federal goverment doesn’t get its act together,” Brown said.
One goal of the Real ID Act is stemming the flow of illegal aliens, according to co-sponsor U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. In a Jan. 27 letter to constituents, Sensenbrenner said the act helps to bring “the issue of illegal immigration to the forefront of the national debate.”
Jim Ludwick, the director of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, believes the state should comply with the Real ID Act.
“If we don’t comply, we face financial ruin. There are so many things we won’t be able to do with our driver licenses — including getting a job,” said Ludwick, whose statewide advocacy group favors tougher immigration laws.
A number of immigration-rights groups oppose the federal act, saying it will turn the Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services into a de facto immigration agency and will not prevent illegal immigrants from driving without licenses.
“It will just marginalize undocumented workers even more and fuel a huge black market in forged documents,” said Aeryca Steinbauer, a coordinator for Causa, an immigrant-rights organization whose name means “cause” in Spanish.
Oregon currently is one of 10 states allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, provided they are Oregon residents. According to DMV spokesman David House, the Legislature made the decision because it considers driving to be a safety issue.
Safety first
Like other applicants, illegal aliens must pass written and hands-on driving tests to obtain their licenses.
“The feeling was, they’re here and driving anyway, so we need to make sure they’re safe drivers,” House said.
No committee of the Legislature currently is studying whether to comply with the act. According to House, the state DMV has provided individual legislators with background information on the act if they ask.
The act also applies to identification cards issued by the state agency.
An analysis prepared by the Oregon DMV says that if the Legislature agrees to comply with the act, “every driver in Oregon will be required to provide proof of identity, Social Security number, legal presence and address before being issued a driver’s license or identification card.”
Illegal residents hard to count
The DMV analysis predicts the new requirement could prevent 2.6 percent to 6 percent of driving-age residents from qualifying for a license. According to House, the figures are only a guess because no one knows, for certain, how many illegal aliens live in Oregon.
Government agencies and nonprofits both publish estimates of the number of illegal immigrants in Oregon. They vary widely, with the government figures on the lower side.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated there were 90,000 illegal immigrants in Oregon in 2000. The Oregon Employment Department estimates the number is much higher now, somewhere between 120,000 and 132,000. The nonprofit Pew Hispanic Center put the figure of “unauthorized migrants” even higher in an April 2006 fact sheet — between 125,000 and 175,000. Also in April, the Oregon Center for Public Policy, a liberal think tank, issued a report that “conservatively” puts the “undocumented” immigrant population between 128,000 and 150,000.
A 2005 study by Bear Stearns, a national investment consulting firm, concludes the higher estimates are more accurate — and may even be too low. The study, titled “The Underground Labor Force Is Rising to the Surface,” does not break the illegal immigrant population down by state. But it concludes that the federal government is drastically underestimating the number of illegal immigrants in the country.
According to the report, the number of illegal aliens in the country is at least twice the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate of around 9 million.
The size of this extra-legal segment of the population is significantly understated because the U.S. Census Bureau does not capture the total number of illegal immigrants,” reads the report.
Although there are no exact numbers, the majority of immigrants in Oregon — both legal and illegal — are Hispanic. The Census Bureau estimates that 311,400 foreign-born people lived in Oregon in 2002. Of that number, the largest group — 36.17 percent— was born in Mexico. For comparison, all Asian countries put together accounted for 29.37 percent of the foreign-born population.
The Census asks people if they speak a language other than English at home. In 2000, approximately 321,350 Oregonians said yes, with more than 214,605 saying their primary language was Spanish. The next most-common languages — German, Vietnamese and Russian — each had less that one-tenth the number of Spanish speakers.
Many workers undocumented
The new requirements in the Real ID Act undoubtedly will inconvenience many Oregonians who have lost their proof of citizenship or immigration papers. But, if the new requirements prevent illegal immigrants from driving, they also could cause problems for employers who rely on them, knowingly or otherwise.
“Undocumented immigrants are critical to the state work force. Without proper identification, these people will find it harder to prove identity in banks and retail establishments and to qualify for Oregon jobs,” according to the DMV analysis.
Whatever the figures, the employment department believes that the vast majority of adult illegal immigrants are working. A routine 2001 Immigration and Naturalization Service audit found that illegal immigrants are a significant presence in the Portland area. As part of the audit, INS officials reviewed the paperwork for 3,306 service industry employees and found that 834 — 25 percent — were in violation of immigration laws.
The results of the audit were released days before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Since then, Congress has abolished the INS and assigned its enforcement powers to a new agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE no longer conducts routine audits on employees within a service sector, according to Virginia Kice, ICE’s western regional communications director and spokeswoman. Instead, Kice says ICE is focusing its investigations on what she calls key components of the public safety infrastructure, such as airport employees.
Federal investigators found 124 illegal immigrants working at the Portland International Airport in December 2001 and arrested 30 of them for using false documents as part of a national sweep called Operation Tarmac.
According to Kice, ICE also is targeting employers who intentionally break the law to employ illegal immigrants. Last month, 21 illegal immigrants were arrested at the North Portland office of IFCO Systems North America, a pallet-building company. Nationally, 1,200 illegal immigrants and seven current or former company managers were arrested during the sweep. Federal officials accuse the company of recruiting workers in Mexico and Central America and paying to smuggle them across the border.
Kice said ICE is conducting other investigations but declined to discuss them.
Ludwick expects more investigations and arrests if the state complies with the Real ID Act.
“Right now, Oregon driver’s licenses are an open invitation to fraud,” he said. “But once the state toughens up its requirements, identifying people who aren’t supposed to be here will be easier.”
Immigration concerns could lead to tougher DMV regulations
The 2007 Oregon Legislature must decide whether to require everyone applying for a state driver’s license to prove they are in this country legally and have a valid Social Security number.
Oregon law does not currently require those applying for driver’s licenses to be U.S. citizens or legal aliens. But a 2005 federal law called the Real ID Act requires all states to issue driver’s licenses only to legal U.S. residents with proof of their citizenship status. The act was passed for a variety of purposes, including cracking down on potential illegal immigrants, fraud, ID theft and child-support evaders.
Under the act, citizens will be required to produce birth certificates, naturalization papers or passports. Legal aliens will have to show their immigration and residency documents. The act also requires all applicants to have valid Social Security numbers.
The requirements would apply to both new applicants and people renewing their licenses.
All state governments must comply with the law by May 2008. If not, the driver’s licenses and identification cards they issue will not be accepted as identification for such federally regulated activities as boarding an airplane, opening a checking account, collecting Social Security benefits or qualifying for federally guaranteed student loans.
State Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown, D-Portland, said it is too early to know what the Legislature will do because the federal government has not yet finished writing the rules to implement the law. But Brown is concerned that Congress has not appropriated any money to help pay for the new licenses, which, she says, could cost up to $100 each to issue.
“People aren’t going to be willing to pay that, and there will be gridlock at airports if the federal goverment doesn’t get its act together,” Brown said.
One goal of the Real ID Act is stemming the flow of illegal aliens, according to co-sponsor U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. In a Jan. 27 letter to constituents, Sensenbrenner said the act helps to bring “the issue of illegal immigration to the forefront of the national debate.”
Jim Ludwick, the director of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, believes the state should comply with the Real ID Act.
“If we don’t comply, we face financial ruin. There are so many things we won’t be able to do with our driver licenses — including getting a job,” said Ludwick, whose statewide advocacy group favors tougher immigration laws.
A number of immigration-rights groups oppose the federal act, saying it will turn the Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services into a de facto immigration agency and will not prevent illegal immigrants from driving without licenses.
“It will just marginalize undocumented workers even more and fuel a huge black market in forged documents,” said Aeryca Steinbauer, a coordinator for Causa, an immigrant-rights organization whose name means “cause” in Spanish.
Oregon currently is one of 10 states allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, provided they are Oregon residents. According to DMV spokesman David House, the Legislature made the decision because it considers driving to be a safety issue.
Safety first
Like other applicants, illegal aliens must pass written and hands-on driving tests to obtain their licenses.
“The feeling was, they’re here and driving anyway, so we need to make sure they’re safe drivers,” House said.
No committee of the Legislature currently is studying whether to comply with the act. According to House, the state DMV has provided individual legislators with background information on the act if they ask.
The act also applies to identification cards issued by the state agency.
An analysis prepared by the Oregon DMV says that if the Legislature agrees to comply with the act, “every driver in Oregon will be required to provide proof of identity, Social Security number, legal presence and address before being issued a driver’s license or identification card.”
Illegal residents hard to count
The DMV analysis predicts the new requirement could prevent 2.6 percent to 6 percent of driving-age residents from qualifying for a license. According to House, the figures are only a guess because no one knows, for certain, how many illegal aliens live in Oregon.
Government agencies and nonprofits both publish estimates of the number of illegal immigrants in Oregon. They vary widely, with the government figures on the lower side.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated there were 90,000 illegal immigrants in Oregon in 2000. The Oregon Employment Department estimates the number is much higher now, somewhere between 120,000 and 132,000. The nonprofit Pew Hispanic Center put the figure of “unauthorized migrants” even higher in an April 2006 fact sheet — between 125,000 and 175,000. Also in April, the Oregon Center for Public Policy, a liberal think tank, issued a report that “conservatively” puts the “undocumented” immigrant population between 128,000 and 150,000.
A 2005 study by Bear Stearns, a national investment consulting firm, concludes the higher estimates are more accurate — and may even be too low. The study, titled “The Underground Labor Force Is Rising to the Surface,” does not break the illegal immigrant population down by state. But it concludes that the federal government is drastically underestimating the number of illegal immigrants in the country.
According to the report, the number of illegal aliens in the country is at least twice the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate of around 9 million.
The size of this extra-legal segment of the population is significantly understated because the U.S. Census Bureau does not capture the total number of illegal immigrants,” reads the report.
Although there are no exact numbers, the majority of immigrants in Oregon — both legal and illegal — are Hispanic. The Census Bureau estimates that 311,400 foreign-born people lived in Oregon in 2002. Of that number, the largest group — 36.17 percent— was born in Mexico. For comparison, all Asian countries put together accounted for 29.37 percent of the foreign-born population.
The Census asks people if they speak a language other than English at home. In 2000, approximately 321,350 Oregonians said yes, with more than 214,605 saying their primary language was Spanish. The next most-common languages — German, Vietnamese and Russian — each had less that one-tenth the number of Spanish speakers.
Many workers undocumented
The new requirements in the Real ID Act undoubtedly will inconvenience many Oregonians who have lost their proof of citizenship or immigration papers. But, if the new requirements prevent illegal immigrants from driving, they also could cause problems for employers who rely on them, knowingly or otherwise.
“Undocumented immigrants are critical to the state work force. Without proper identification, these people will find it harder to prove identity in banks and retail establishments and to qualify for Oregon jobs,” according to the DMV analysis.
Whatever the figures, the employment department believes that the vast majority of adult illegal immigrants are working. A routine 2001 Immigration and Naturalization Service audit found that illegal immigrants are a significant presence in the Portland area. As part of the audit, INS officials reviewed the paperwork for 3,306 service industry employees and found that 834 — 25 percent — were in violation of immigration laws.
The results of the audit were released days before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Since then, Congress has abolished the INS and assigned its enforcement powers to a new agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE no longer conducts routine audits on employees within a service sector, according to Virginia Kice, ICE’s western regional communications director and spokeswoman. Instead, Kice says ICE is focusing its investigations on what she calls key components of the public safety infrastructure, such as airport employees.
Federal investigators found 124 illegal immigrants working at the Portland International Airport in December 2001 and arrested 30 of them for using false documents as part of a national sweep called Operation Tarmac.
According to Kice, ICE also is targeting employers who intentionally break the law to employ illegal immigrants. Last month, 21 illegal immigrants were arrested at the North Portland office of IFCO Systems North America, a pallet-building company. Nationally, 1,200 illegal immigrants and seven current or former company managers were arrested during the sweep. Federal officials accuse the company of recruiting workers in Mexico and Central America and paying to smuggle them across the border.
Kice said ICE is conducting other investigations but declined to discuss them.
Ludwick expects more investigations and arrests if the state complies with the Real ID Act.
“Right now, Oregon driver’s licenses are an open invitation to fraud,” he said. “But once the state toughens up its requirements, identifying people who aren’t supposed to be here will be easier.”
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