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Introduction |
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Immigrants’ access to driver’s licenses has been a
hotly debated issue in almost every state in the U.S. In most
cases, the debate has been an emotional one that has become entangled
with the national debate about how to reform our immigration system.
But this focus has distracted from the real issues that states face in
promoting public safety and protecting their communities.
Immigrants, like almost everyone else, need to drive, whether
it is for work, to take their kids to school or appointments, or simply
to conduct daily activities. Denying them licenses simply makes
the roads less safe for everyone, increases uninsurance rates and the
number of unlicensed drivers, and undermines effective law enforcement.
The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, does not change
this equation nor lessen the reasons states have for setting their own
driver’s license rules that meet their needs. Many states oppose
the federal requirements imposed by the REAL ID Act, and in 2007, 17
states passed legislation rejecting it. The act’s future still
remains uncertain.
The purpose of this resource guide is to
provide updated information to organizers, advocates, and individuals as
they engage in efforts to ensure that all drivers, regardless of their
immigration status, are licensed. If you have questions, or
to add anything to the resource guide, please contact
Tyler Moran.
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Facts about Driver's Licenses and
Immigrants |
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Why Denying Driver’s Licenses to
Undocumented Immigrants Harms Public Safety and Makes Our Communities
Less Secure (NILC, 1/08) |
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Driver Licenses and National Security: Myths and Facts (Click here and search for "Here are
five myths about driver licenses and security:") (Lt. Colonel Margaret
Stock, 1/08) |
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Fact Sheet: Driver's Licenses, 9-11,
and Intelligence Reform (9/11 Public Discourse Project) |
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State Residency Versus Lawful Presence (NILC,
[forthcoming]) |
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Support for Eliminating Immigration
Status-related Driver’s License Restrictions |
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[New York State] Catholic Conference Statement on
Issue of Driver's Licenses for Immigrants (10/2/08) |
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Quotes from Law Enforcement ([forthcoming]) |
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Quotes from Policymakers ([forthcoming]) |
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Quotes from Religious Leaders ([forthcoming]) |
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Why Unlicensed Drivers and Driver’s
License Restrictions Undermine Public Safety |
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AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
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The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety describes unlicensed
drivers as "among the worst drivers on the road."
Robert A. Scopatz, Clayton E. Hatch, Barbara Hilger DeLucia and
Kelley A. Tays,
Unlicensed to Kill: The Sequel (AAA Foundation for Traffic
Safety, Jan. 2003), p. 16, emphasis added.
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The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety also found that unlicensed
drivers are almost five times more likely to be in a fatal crash
than are validly licensed drivers. "High
Risk Drivers Fact Sheet" (AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety,
undated).
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William Bratton, Chief, Los Angeles
Police Department (10/07) |
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New Mexico
Governor Bill Richardson (11/07) |
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Why Driver’s License Restrictions Weaken
National Security |
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Progressive States Network
(PSN "provides coordinated
research and strategic advocacy tools to state legislators and their
staffs, empowering [them] with everything they need to engineer
forward-thinking change.") (PSN website) (3/28/08) |
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Mike German, Policy Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative
Office, and former FBI agent (Letter to Maine Legislature's Joint
Committee on Transportation) (4/9/08) |
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Clark Kent Ervin,
Director, Homeland Security Program at The Aspen Institute and former
Inspector General of the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security (11/07) |
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Margaret Stock, Associate
Professor of Law, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, and Lieutenant
Colonel, Military Police Corps, United States Army Reserve (1/08) |
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Susan Ginsburg,
Senior Fellow, Migration Policy Institute, and former staff member of
the 9/11 Commission (10/07) |
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Bruce Schneier, Founder and CTO of BT Counterpane,
"the world's leading protector of networked information" (2/08) |
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Kim Taipale, Executive Director of the Center for Advanced
Studies in Science and Technology Policy, and Director of the Program on
Law Enforcement and National Security in the Information Age (PLENSIA)
at the World Policy Institute (12/04) |
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Impact of Driver’s License and I.D.
Restrictions on U.S. Citizens and Immigrants with Lawful Status |
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Facts About The Impact of Driver’s
License and Identification Card Restrictions on U.S. Citizens and
Lawfully Present Immigrants (NILC, 2/08) |
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Citizens Without Proof: A Survey of
Americans' Possession of Documentary Proof of Citizenship and Photo
Identification (Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of
Law, 11/06) |
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Red Tape Ensnares State's New ID Law: Rules
Meant to Foil Illegal Immigrants Cause Havoc at DMV
(April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News, 9/25/06) (Colorado) |
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Disabled Entrapped by ID Rules
(Karen Augé, 3/04/07) (Colorado) |
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Lacking Papers, Citizens are Cut from Medicaid
(Robert Pear, New York Times, 3/12/07) |
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Rules Deter Poor Children From Enrolling in Medicaid:
Needed Documents Unavailable to Some Families, Officials Say
(Chris L. Jenkins, Washington Post, 10/8/06) |
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Medicaid ID Law Backfires: U.S.
Citizens Lose Health Care Because of Guideline Intended to Screen
Illegal Immigrants (Mike Lillis, The Washington
Independent, 01/28/08) |
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Model Policies to Strengthen State
Driver’s Licenses |
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Affirmative Policies to Strengthen
State Driver's Licenses (NILC, 2/08) |
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What's Wrong with the REAL ID Act |
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THE LAW AND REGULATIONS |
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Summary of the Driver’s License
Provisions in the REAL ID Act of 2005 (NILC, 5/05) |
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Fact Sheet: Final REAL ID
Regulations (ACLU, 1/11/08) |
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Questions and Answers about Driver’s
Licenses Now That Final REAL ID Regulations Have Been Issued (NILC,
2/08) |
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Fuzzy Math and the Costs of REAL ID:
Department of Homeland Security Radically Understates Cost to Taxpayers
(ACLU, 1/16/08) |
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Comparison of Application Requirements for U.S. Passport and REAL ID
Driver's License (NILC, 10/05) |
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ACLU Scorecard on Final REAL ID Regulations
(ACLU, 1/17/08) |
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OPPOSITION TO REAL ID |
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REAL ID Implementation Review: Few
Benefits, Staggering Costs (Analysis of the Department of
Homeland Security’s National ID Program), Electronic Privacy Information
Center (EPIC),
May 2008. (Link is to EPIC's website. EPIC, a public
interest research center in Washington, DC, was established to focus
public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect
privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values.) (5/08) |
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Chart of State Anti-REAL ID Laws and Resolutions (NILC,
[forthcoming]) |
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The False Promise of Real ID
(Jon Healey, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 22, 2008) (Healey is a
Times editorial writer, and he runs the Times' BitPlayer blog.) |
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Rejecting National ID
(Jim Harper, Cato Institute, 2/7/08) (Harper is director of information
policy studies at the Cato Institute.) |
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REAL ID [and Security] (Bruce Schneier,
Schneier on Security, 5/9/05) (Schneier is founder and CTO of BT Counterpane,
"the world's leading protector of networked information.") |
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Letter from
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer to Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Re: REAL ID (1/18/08) |
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ALERT: REAL ID Will Increase Exposure to Identity Theft
(Beth Givens, Privacy Rights
Clearinghouse, 2/28/07) |
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Comments of
Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (answers to
questions posed by CNET News.com reporters, 1/2/08) |
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Opposition Voices [Quotations in Opposition to REAL ID]
(compiled by ACLU) |
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A Sampling of Organizations That
Have Opposed REAL ID (list compiled by ACLU) |
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Anti-Immigrant Organizations Involved in
the
Driver's License Debate |
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The Teflon Nativists: FAIR Marked by
Ties to White Supremacy (Heidi Beirich, Southern Poverty Law Center
Intelligence Report, Winter 2007) |
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"F.A.I.R. Hearings": An Analysis of
the Intimate Connections Between "Experts" Testifying Against the New
York State DMV Policy and the Anti-Immigrant, Nativist Group – F.A.I.R.
(New
York Immigration Coalition, 10/15/07) |
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Southern Poverty Law Center
Statement on New York State Senate and Assembly Witnesses
(10/16/07) |
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