Bill would give driving cards to illegal residents

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By NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star

Supporters of a bill that would allow Nebraska residents to get a driving privilege card even if they are illegal residents, said the issue is public safety, not immigration.

But opponents, including several legal immigrants, believe the issue is immigration and laws should be followed.

Ivonne Jones, a legal immigrant from Brazil, said she can understand the desire to come here for opportunities and a better life, but “sneaking across the border is wrong.”

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“It’s unfair for those who have waited for years to come into the country and have to go through the process,” to then give illegal immigrants the “gift” of the driving card, she said.

Senators are committing an “act of treason” if they pass a bill that lets residents get a type of driver’s license without using a Social Security card, said Susan Smith, an opponent of the bill.

It is an attempt to subvert the federal immigration act, Smith told senators on the Legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee during a three-hour hearing Monday.

“No one made it easier for me,” said Margit Payne of Valparaiso, another first-generation immigrant from Germany, who said she had to learn English before she could get a driver’s license or get a decent job.

“They already have done wrong,” she said. “They already came under the fence or over the fence,” while she waited her time to get into the country. “Why don’t they have to go by the same rules as all the other nations,” she asked.

But supporters downplayed immigration, which they said is a federal issue.

The Nebraska issue is public safety, said Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island, sponsor of LB266.

People who want a driving privilege card will be required to pass the driver’s test and are more likely to insure their vehicle, he said. And he asked senators to sort through the emotion and deal with the “daily reality of residents of our state.”

An illegal immigrant who now lives in Omaha said he came to this country 13 years ago “to make a better life for my family.” People who need driver’s licenses are working, are going to church and they want to be part of the solution, said Luis Ortiz Rosales.

Because he can’t get a driver’s licenses, he also can’t get insurance for his car, he told senators.

When asked why he didn’t become a citizen, Rosales said, “There is no way I can do that. It’s no choice for me.”

Many undocumented immigrants who got driver’s licenses before the law changed in 2003 requiring Social Security cards, are coming up for license renewals, said Omaha insurance agent John Barrientos.

“We have people who want to follow the law. Yes, they broke the law to come here. There are people without documents. If there wasn’t, we wouldn’t have many people working in the packing houses,” he said.

And until the country changes its immigration law and allows people to immigrate here legally without paying tens of thousands of dollars, we are always going to have this problem, Barrientos said.

Aguilar has said he doesn’t expect the measure to gain passage but he wants the issue to be discussed.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.