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Illegal immigrants line up for drivers' licenses in California

 
California Highway Patrol officer Armando Garcia explains to immigrants the process of getting a driver’s license during an information session in April at the Mexican Consulate, in San Diego. California is one of 10 states to start issuing drivers’ licenses to immigrants in the country illegally.
California Highway Patrol officer Armando Garcia explains to immigrants the process of getting a driver’s license during an information session in April at the Mexican Consulate, in San Diego. California is one of 10 states to start issuing drivers’ licenses to immigrants in the country illegally.
Published Jan. 3, 2015

STANTON, Calif. — Mexican immigrant Jesus Moreno emerged smiling from a California Department of Motor Vehicles office on Friday with official permission to do something he has been doing here for more than a decade: driving.

The vending-machine installer, who has forked over hundreds of dollars in traffic tickets and car-impound fees as an unlicensed driver, became one of the first to get a permit under a new program to give drivers' licenses to the nation's largest population of immigrants in the country illegally.

"It's not that I want to drive," Moreno, 30, said after leaving a packed DMV office in Orange County. "It's a necessity."

Thousands of people crammed into DMV offices and waited in hourslong lines to apply for a license as California became one of 10 states to authorize immigrants in the country illegally to drive.

The DMV expects to field 1.4 million applications in the first three years of a program aimed at boosting road safety and making immigrants' lives easier. By midday Friday, more than 6,100 immigrants had applied, said Jessica Gonzalez, a DMV spokeswoman.

Only four DMV offices were taking walk-in applicants. Hundreds of immigrants donning scarves and gloves and clutching driver handbooks faced near-freezing temperatures in the Orange County city of Stanton to get a place in line before dawn.

"This is a big opportunity for me," said Sammy Moeung, a 24-year-old Cambodian immigrant eager to get a license to avoid having to ride his bike to work at his brother's doughnut shop. "Having this is moving a step forward in life, in California and the United States."

Immigrant advocates have cheered the licenses as a way to integrate immigrants who must drive to work and shuttle children to school, though the cards will include a distinctive marking and are not considered valid federal identification. Critics have questioned state officials' ability to verify the identity of foreign applicants, citing security concerns.

Applicants must submit proof of identity and state residency, and pass a written test to get a driving permit. Those who don't possess foreign government-issued identification on a list of approved documents can be interviewed by a DMV investigator to see if they qualify.

Immigrants must come back at a later date and pass a road test to get the license, which will be marked with the words "federal limits apply."