In August of this year, the last 19,732 drivers' licenses will expire, which were issued in North Carolina to applicants with a tax identification number (ITIN) or W-7; these licenses allowed 220,982 undocumented immigrants to drive the country's highways legally since 2002.
This will probably produce an exodus of those who carry one of these licenses to the three states which still issue licenses to the undocumented – New Mexico, Washington and Utah – or to cities where public transportation allows them to carry out everyday activities without the necessity of climbing into a private vehicle – such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. It is also possible that some will return to their countries of origin, while others will simply stay and keep driving, with the risk of being arrested and possibly deported.
I know a beautiful and intelligent young woman who graduated from high school four years ago, but who could not continue her studies in college because she is undocumented. Nevertheless, she is now successfully managing the office of a commercial enterprise. This young woman took part in several local beauty contests, and I see her regularly at public activities to promote comprehensive immigration reform and the legalization of undocumented students.
Knowing that she arrived here from Central America as a teenager, and that she does not have legal immigration status, I asked her how she managed driving in Charlotte. "I drive with a license from God," she answered, with a knavish look in her black eyes and showing her white teeth in a nervous grin.
She tells me she never had the chance to apply for her driver's license, and that this is also the case among many of her friends and acquaintances.
The possibility of operating automobiles has become a Gordian knot for undocumented immigrants, as door after door closes in state after state, depriving them of the privilege.
The nightmare was formalized in May 2005, with the passage of the federal Real ID law, which was meant to guard against terrorism, but which in practice ended up affecting immigrants.
The Real ID established security requirements for the issuance of drivers' licenses on the part of the states of the Union, which was completely understandable after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Nonetheless, this bill, proposed by Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), which passed the House with 368 votes in favor and 58 against, and sailed through the Senate on a unanimous vote, picked up several immigration amendments, which have left the "illegals" without drivers' licenses.
All states were to have complied with the Real ID Act by 2008, but the deadline was extended to the present year.
In North Carolina the drama began before New Year 2005, when the state's Transportation Department announced that it was changing the rules for the issuance of drivers' licenses, reducing the number of documents that could be used to obtain such permits. And in July 2006, the state legislature definitively eliminated the ITIN as a means to obtain a license.
The three states where undocumented immigrants can still get a license are now studying measures to eliminate the possibility that the undocumented can obtain such a document.
In Utah, 42,000 undocumented immigrants drive with special licenses the state began to issue six years ago, but the state Senate is considering a bill, SB 138, which would eliminate this privilege.
The Washington State Senate, controlled by the Republicans, is considering a bill, SB 5407, which would prevent undocumented persons from obtaining a license.
Fortunately, in New Mexico, which has issued licenses to foreigners since 2003, the legislators rejected a bill, supported by Governor Susana Martínez (R), which would have deprived anyone without legal immigration status of the possibility of getting a driver's license. So there will be 82,000 fewer undocumented immigrants who will have to rely on "a license from God."
