The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 71/No. 15      April 16, 2007

 
Illinois ‘driver certificate’
would finger undocumented
(front page)
 
BY ROLLANDE GIRARD  
CHICAGO, March 31—The Illinois House of Representatives voted March 28 to approve a bill that gives undocumented immigrants the possibility of applying for driving “certificates,” which would allow them to drive legally and buy auto insurance. It would be a different color and design than the Illinois driver’s license and could not be used as legal ID. State Representative Edward Acevedo, who sponsored the measure, titled the Roadway Safety and Mandatory Insurance Coverage Act, said, “This bill will benefit all people in Illinois, making safer roads all across the state.”

The bill is now going to the State Senate and, if adopted, will go to Illinois governor Rodney Blagojevich, who has said he would sign it into law.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights organized a rally of 2,000 on March 22 in Springfield, the state capital, to lobby for the bill’s passage. In its press release the group said an estimated 250,000 people in Illinois drive without a license. They are uninsured and “involved in an estimated 76,000 accidents each year, causing $630 million in damage claims.”

Besides passing a written and driving test, an applicant for the certificate would have to provide a photo ID, such as a passport from one’s native country, and submit fingerprints, proof of residency, and an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. The individual would then have to buy insurance within a month or their certificate would be canceled. The certificate will cost $60 instead of the $10 for the regular driver’s license.

The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Illinois Sheriffs Association are backing the bill. The certificates would give the police easy access to drivers’ personal information. “It will absolutely be a bonus for law enforcement,” said Laimutis Nargelenas, a deputy director of the police chiefs association.

The Illinois driver’s certificate bill fits in with the U.S. government’s moves to institute a national identification card.

Under the federal REAL ID Act of 2005, states are required to put personal information of their residents on a database that is to be made accessible to motor vehicle departments around the country by the end of 2009. National IDs exist in many imperialist countries in Europe—such as France, Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal, Germany, and Spain—as well as in many semicolonial countries. In addition to tracking movements, such identification systems have been used to facilitate state and employer blacklists. They also help to enforce the second-class status of oppressed nationalities, and exert greater state control over the population.

While there is broad initial support for the driver’s certificate bill among immigrant workers here, some are opposing the measure. Martha, an immigrant worker who asked to be identified only by her first name, explained, “It’s good to have a license but not one that’s different from the regular license. This would be used to finger the undocumented.”

Rollande Girard is a garment worker and member of UNITE HERE Local 39C in Chicago.
 
 
Related articles:
‘La migra’ raids nine Baltimore worksites; 69 workers arrested
 
 
 
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