Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=121797745642029900

Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
Drop in numbers seeking drivers licenses pegged to new state law
By Steve Law

The Portland Tribune, Aug 6, 2008
Christopher Onstott, Tribune File Photo / Portland Tribune

With a passport and Brazilian drivers license in hand, Roberual Goncalues De Silva waits his turn in 2006 to apply for an Oregon drivers license at the popular DMV office at SE Powell Boulevard and 90th. A new state law requires Oregon drivers license applicants to prove they are in the state legally.
The number of Spanish-speaking people taking Oregon’s driving test plummeted in February, just as Gov. Kulongoski’s executive order took effect requiring test-takers to provide valid Social Security numbers.

In the Portland area and statewide, there was a jump in people taking the driving test in Spanish in the two months after Kulongoski issued his November order – but before it took effect Feb. 4, according to new data from the state Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division. The number of people taking the test in Spanish fell more than 80 percent after his order took effect.

State officials can’t think of any other reason to explain the pattern besides the governor’s order, said David House, DMV spokesman.

Critics of illegal immigration hailed the new data.

“I think that’s reflective of the fact that at one time Oregon had an open door for illegal aliens to get their drivers’ licenses from all over the United States,” said Jim Ludwick, president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform.

Oregon had been one of a handful of states that didn’t require drivers license applicants to prove they were here legally. Oregon also grants licenses for eight years, longer than many states.

Ludwick and others lobbied state officials for years to tighten state procedures, arguing that Oregon’s loose standards made the state a mecca for illegal immigrants anxious to obtain photo IDs.

Kulongoski came around to that view last year, arguing state requirements needed tightening to prevent identity theft and other public safety problems.

“Previously Oregon had been a magnet for individuals from other states coming in and obtaining drivers’ licenses,” said Jillian Schoene, Kulongoski spokeswoman. “I think the changes in the law have been effective.”

Kulongoski put the heat on the Oregon Legislature to approve his plan, by making the executive order take effect the exact day a one-month special legislative session began on Feb 4. Lawmakers complied by passing Senate Bill 1080, which requires license applicants to provide proof they are here legally.

That law took effect July 1, so its full impact is not clear yet, House said. So far, the law is slowing the issuance of drivers licenses, because it requires all applicants to present more documents to prove their identity and legal presence here.

“I’m going to give Gov. Kulongoski credit,” Ludwick said. “He’s the one who issued an executive order and basically forced the Legislature to go along with the process.”

For most of 2007, about 150 people a month took the test in Spanish at the bustling Portland DMV office on 8710 S.E. Powell Boulevard. That bumped to more than 200 a month in December and January, after Kulongoski announced his pending executive order. Then the number fell to 28 people in February, when the order took effect.

The story was the same elsewhere in the Portland area and statewide. At the main Hillsboro DMV office, 398 people took the test in Spanish in January, and then only 69 in February. In Gresham, 215 took the test in Spanish in January, and only 20 in February. Statewide, 4,542 took the test in Spanish in January and 665 in February.

The DMV’s data does not show a clear drop in the number of people taking the drivers test in English, Russian, Vietnamese, Chinese or Japanese. The number of people taking the test in Spanish has remained low each month since February.

“Only one language group declined; all the others remained pretty static,” Ludwick observed.

The DMV data provides dramatic evidence of the influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants to the Portland area. People requesting the drivers test in Spanish amounted to one-third of all test-takers at the Hillsboro DMV from August 2006 through January 2008, one-fourth of those in the Gresham DMV and about one-seventh of those at Portland’s Powell Boulevard DMV.

Ludwick predicted the new state law will reduce methamphetamine trafficking and identity theft in Oregon.

Immigrants rights advocates said the law will harm Oregon’s economy by making it more difficult for undocumented workers to get to their jobs. However, the law’s impact is gradual, because many illegal immigrants have licenses until they expire, and there was a surge of people getting licenses before the executive order took effect.

“That means that little by little, they’re not going to do their work,” said Marco Mejia, Portland-area director of the American Friends Service Committee immigration program. That will have a dramatic impact on Oregon farms, hotels, restaurants and other businesses that rely on immigrant labor, Mejia said.

Ultimately, he said, the law will drive up the cost of food for Oregonians. “The effect is going to be totally negative to the overall community,” he said.

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OTHER'S COMMENTS:
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
Ultimately, he said, the law will drive up the cost of food for Oregonians. “The effect is going to be totally negative to the overall community,” Mejia said.
This is because wages will go up. Those who are working hard will finally be able to demand a decent wage, decent working conditions and rights like the rest of us enjoy. There will be no overall negative effect on the overall community, just on the community of illegal immigrants. Now Portland will have to decide what they will do when pull over a driver with no license, no proof of identity and thus no proof of US citizenry.
There is no reason why one segment of immigrants should receive preference over another. As shown by DMV's numbers, most immigrants follow the laws and come here legally. i.e. the number of Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese had no significant decline.
The next step is the SSN match rule. This will cut down on fraud and theft. Any person who uses a SSN that is not theirs is perpetuating theft and fraud. The SSN belongs to someone else. The SSN is not only used to obtain a job, but also to rent and apartment, buy a car and borrow money.
Ah, before you call me some racist, backwoods hillbilly, let me enlighten you.
I just spent 15 months struggling through the system, separated from my Peruvian wife, to obtain a US visa for her so that she can come here live with me. When I moved to her country 4 years ago I obtained a visa at the port of entry, of course I was not permitted to work and it was almost impossible to obtain a work permit.
Please focus your energy on reforming the immigration system, especially USCIS. This is the most insular US agency I have ever dealt with. They make the IRS look like angels. You have to go through 3 separate government agencies to obtain a visa to the US (USCIS, State Department and FBI). I actually had a USCIS respond to me that they are a normal agency and work on their own terms.
Comprehensive immigration reform is the only answer, in the mean time the laws have to be followed.
"Jota"
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Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 12:51 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
I am a Title I teacher who works with the Latino immigrant population. I see the day-to-day pressures that this bill has put on the spouses and children of illegal immigrants (the entire family may NOT be here illegally, and often, the families we have here were originally all legal but let their papers lapse). I have to agree with "jota" above. The system, as it is now, makes trying to follow the rules and go through the steps almost Kafkaesque at times! In the long run, this rule will be a positive thing for many reasons: it will cut down on interconnected crimes like SS# theft (I have been a victim twice, my husband once, made easier because we have a common Latino last name), AND it will force necessary pressure for changes to a system that encourages people to lie or lose work if they want to keep their families together. I cannot tell you how many families I have tried to help renew their legal status before it expired and have had them finally give up in sheer desperation, then disappear into the illegal population. I hate the potential problems in the short-term, and I know there will be plenty of people who will choose to drive without the license because they can't get one. However, the system needs a total overhaul. Let's hope this eventually helps!
"Una maestra de Washington Country "
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Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:13 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
They should abide by the law if they want to live and work in this country. I have to and I am Irish.
(email verified)

Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:20 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
"They should abide by the law if they want to live and work in this country. I have to and I am Irish."
"BJR"
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Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:28 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
The aren't latino immigrants, they are illegal aliens.
If they aren't applying for state licenses, then it means the system is working. They won't be able to apply for benefits, go into bars etc...
Hopefully this will give them the incentive to GO HOME!
" Steveo"
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Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:33 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
What took Sleepy Ted so long? Apparently he's enjoying
his "retirement" working at the State Capitol.
"Dale"
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Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 08:30 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
Marco Mejia says that the effect will be totally negative. I think this is ridiculous, and the whole "costs will go up" argument is irrelevant as well. If the true LEGAL costs of growing nursery stock or harvesting produce is higher than we are currently paying than the costs should go up.

There are a lot of products that could be sold cheaper if we ignored workplace safety regulations or illegally used materials that weren't up to code, or in many other ways broke the laws that govern how these products should be manufactured and brought to market, but no one seems to advocate that every industry should just ignore the law and only do what is absolutely cheapest at every turn.

However, for some reason, when agriculture breaks numerous laws to cut corners and save a buck, it is presented as if they were engaged in some kind of Robin Hood like moral struggle, and that their breaking the law is a good thing.
It isn't a good thing, it artificially and ILLEGALLY, drives down wages for American citizens and legal immigrants, and creates oppourtunities for criminal activity from ID theft to terrorism so I find it hard to swallow when I am told that something as simple as making sure a person is legally entitled to have a drivers license before we actually give them one is bad for our community
"Don"
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Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 09:30 AM
Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV
I've got no problem with this regulation. Hopefully people without a drivers license (or insurance) will also stay off the roads as well.
However I don't blame people coming to Oregon looking for better work and a better place to live... if there are employers hiring illegal workers here, we should go after the employers, not the workers.
"yeah well"
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