Immigrants find roadblock in REAL ID

Marcus Rodriguez’ family might be facing a drastic blow to their lifestyle. If the REAL ID Act is implemented in Virginia, his mother, an undocumented immigrant who has lived in Arlington for 13 years, will be unable to renew her drivers license.

“My mother would probably be heartbroken and crushed if she couldn’t renew her license,” said Rodriguez, whose name has been changed to protect his identity. “She does everything for my brother and me. She’s constantly on the move trying to take care of her family. It would be detrimental to (our) well-being.”

The two REAL ID non-compliance bills that passed during the 2009 General Assembly session regarded specific privacy-related components of the REAL ID Act . and a federal ID requirement still could be implemented in Virginia. Undocumented immigrants would not qualify for the new identifications, which all Virginia residents would be required to apply for beginning Jan. 1, 2010.

Currently, if any licensed individuals, including undocumented immigrants, do not allow their ID or license to expire or be suspended, they do not have to prove legal presence when they renew their license.

“If the REAL ID Act is implemented, all applicants will be required to provide proof of identity, proof of legal presence,” said Pam Goheen, a spokeswoman for the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Tim Sparapani, senior legislative council for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the implementation of the REAL ID Act would impact all Virginia drivers.

“In states which moved to requiring strict proof of lawful presence, we don’t see a decline in the number of undocumented drivers,” Sparapani said. “In fact, what we see is those undocumented drivers without insurance. So we would see a spike in accidents between one insured party and one uninsured party.”

Sparapani said after New Mexico passed a lawful-presence requirement for drivers, the state rescinded it after a few years because of an increase in accidents between insured and uninsured drivers, which caused car-insurance rates to “go through the roof.” Sparapani said a similar insurance-rate spike would most likely happen in Virginia as well.

“(It’s) a negative consequence of an effort that is being misguided,” Sparapani said.

Hermelinda Cortes, a political science major who worked under the Virginia Immigrant Peoples Coalition, said there is a greater chance of an undocumented driver fleeing the scene of an accident.

“It makes it more dangerous for them, and it makes it more dangerous for everybody else on the road,” Cortes said.

David Caulkett, a pro-enforcement immigration activist who runs a number of anti-illegal immigration Web sites, says the issue of increased insurance premiums based on uninsured drivers is not a reasonable argument against the REAL ID Act.

“That’s just a phony argument one could say about any massive group of lawbreakers,” Caulkett said. “The problem is that they shouldn’t be here.”

Caulkett said he supports the REAL-ID legislation because it would improve document security; an immigration issue he said is often overlooked.

“Even if we get that border secure, until we secure our documents, we still have a major threat,” Caulkett said. “A verifiable database is really key to stopping fraudulent documentation.”