Opponents seek repeal of new driver's license rules

By Juan Castillo
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Department of Public Safety rule changes intended to prevent undocumented immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses came under blistering attack Tuesday from civil rights groups and state legislators who said the new rules have the unintended effect of forcing U.S. citizens and lawful immigrants to prove their citizenship or legal residence.

Critics at a Capitol press conference called on the Texas Public Safety Commission, the governing body of DPS, to immediately scrap the rules that it put into effect Oct. 1 under a little-noticed administrative change. The rules require non-U.S. citizens to prove they are in the country legally before getting an original, renewal or duplicate driver's license or identification card.

Also Tuesday, state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, filed a bill that would prohibit civilian DPS employees from engaging in racial profiling in issuing driver's licenses or ID cards. Burnam said the rule changes represented government at its worst and amounted to "institutionalized racism."

DPS officials denied racial profiling is taking place at driver's license field offices, but acknowledged that an unspecified number of U.S. citizens have been asked to provide proof of citizenship when renewing their licenses.

"A large number of people being asked are Anglo or older people," said Tela Mange, a DPS spokeswoman. Mange said the DPS database lists citizenship of some renewal applicants as unknown. In those cases, DPS employees explain the policy changes and ask applicants to provide a passport or a certified birth certificate or document showing they are legally here.

"We've had folks in our field offices say they've had people get upset," Mange said. "We have to be consistent and we're requiring that people show they are here legally."

Speakers at Tuesday's press conference, including representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and members of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, blasted the rule changes on a number of fronts.

Luis Figueroa, legislative staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said it had heard from a U.S. citizen in Houston who suspected he was subjected to a higher scrutiny when renewing his driver's license, an experience he thought was based on his Hispanic ethnicity.

State Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, urged the Legislature to consider its own course of action when it convenes next month. McClendon said the safety commission overstepped its authority by attempting to set state policy.

Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Perry and the commission's chairman defended the new rules. "I strongly support the recent DPS rule changes that ensure public safety and national security, and am confident the vast majority of Texans feel the same way," Perry said.

Allan B. Polunsky, who heads the public safety commission, said it has no plans to repeal the rules. "I, along with the other commissioners, feel that it is a good rule that was passed to protect the public safety of the citizens of this state," Polunsky said.

Only five states — New Mexico, Washington, Utah, Maryland and Hawaii — do not require applicants to show evidence of lawful presence in the country, according to the National Immigration Law Center.

McClendon, the San Antonio legislator, said many U.S. citizens have never had either a birth certificate or a passport. "We have even heard of instances that without such proof, lifelong U.S. citizens are now having trouble obtaining a Texas driver's license or a photo ID," McClendon said.

Paul Parsons, an Austin immigration attorney representing the Texas chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said DPS officials are untrained in immigration and citizenship laws. "The DPS should focus on its mission of public safety and leave the enforcement of immigration and nationality laws to the (federal) Department of Homeland Security," Parsons said.

Much of the criticism focused on a provision of the rule changes that calls for a special, vertical license bearing a temporary visitor designation for legal immigrants who are not U.S. citizens. Texas is only the second state in the nation to have a different-looking license for a particular set of drivers, according to the National Immigration Law Center, which says different licenses can lead to discrimination.

With the rule changes, Texas says it is closer to complying with the federal Real ID Act, a 2005 law intended to prevent terrorism and reduce identity fraud. But states don't have to implement the law and many — 21 in all, though Texas is not among them — have passed legislation or resolutions rejecting or denouncing Real ID, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635