driver's license

LINCOLN — Maria Marquez-Hernandez used to collect volunteer experiences for her resume because she couldn’t legally hold a job.

Now the 20-year-old architecture student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha is looking to earn real work experience along with a wage.

She is among the first wave of young immigrants brought to this country illegally who have been granted two-year work authorization under a new presidential program.

“It felt amazing,” said Marquez-Hernandez, whose parents brought her from Mexico to Omaha when she was 5 years old. “I no longer have the fear of what am I going to do when I get out of college.”

Her relief was tempered somewhat when she recently learned she won’t be granted a driver’s license in Nebraska, which could make any job search more difficult.

Gov. Dave Heineman wasn’t playing chicken three months ago when he promised to deny driver’s licenses to young illegal immigrants given work authorization under a program called “deferred action for childhood arrivals.”

As of last week, the state had rejected license applications from eight immigrants who qualified under the federal program, said Bev Neth, director of the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles.

The license rejections have riled immigration lawyers, who called the state’s policy discriminatory.

“It seems pretty clear in our statutes that anyone who has a work permit issued by Homeland Security is eligible for a driver’s license,” said Omaha attorney Mark Curley. “For some reason, this group has been singled out.”

The Obama administration’s deferred action program focuses on immigrants under age 31 brought to the country illegally before age 16. To receive the two-year work permit, the applicants must have no criminal record and must be in school or have a high school diploma.

The president intended it as a step toward the Dream Act, a legislative proposal that sought to put young, educated illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. The proposal has twice failed to gain the support of a majority of lawmakers.

Critics argued the president thwarted the will of Congress by granting deferred action to young immigrants. They also said it represented a political move by Obama to shore up support among Latinos ahead of Election Day.

Heineman has said Nebraska won’t provide state benefits such as driver’s licenses to those in the country illegally.

“It’s not good policy,” Darcy Tromanhauser, with Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest, said of the governor’s stance. “We have talented youth who grew up in Nebraska, and they want to work, but they can’t get to work.”

Advocacy groups who support the deferred action program say roughly three dozen immigrants in Nebraska have been approved so far. Federal officials reported, as of Nov. 15, nearly 53,300 immigrants have received the approval nationally out of about 309,000 applicants.

Advocates estimate as many as 1.7 million people could be eligible for the program.

Nebraska is one of three states to declare it won’t grant driver’s licenses to immigrants who obtain deferred action approval. The others are Arizona and Michigan, said Tanya Broder, a staff lawyer with the California-based National Immigration Law Center.

About 15 states have either started granting licenses to deferred action applicants or indicated they will, Broder said. Other states have not yet announced their intent.

Iowa has not decided whether it will issue licenses to deferred action applicants, said Kim Snook, director of driver services for the Iowa Department of Transportation. The state has not received an application, she added.

In Nebraska, a federal employment authorization card represents a valid form of identification when applying for a driver’s license, according to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles website. Once the immigrants receive work authorization, they also are qualified to apply for a Social Security card.

The state runs information from immigrants who apply for driver’s licenses through a real-time database operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Applicants who come back with a code denoting their acceptance in the deferred action program are automatically denied licenses, Neth said.

When told that some lawyers have called the denials a violation of state law, Neth replied, “That’s their interpretation.”

State Sen. Charlie Janssen of Fremont, an advocate of strict immigration enforcement, commended Nebraska officials for not abdicating their responsibility.

He questioned how illegal immigrants can lay claim to a privilege they are not entitled to receive in the first place.

“What it essentially comes down to is the federal government pushing amnesty on the states,” Janssen said.

Dazmi Castrejon, an immigration attorney from Omaha, said others who came to the country illegally have been able to obtain Nebraska licenses because they had valid work authorization.

Such applicants fall under a category called “cancellation of removal.” They have to have been in the country for at least 10 years and free of serious criminal convictions.

Neth said the assorted classification of immigrants by the federal immigration agency is confusing, but she was unaware of illegal immigrants who obtained driver’s licenses in Nebraska.

Omaha lawyer Sylvia Rodriguez said several categories of undocumented workers have received licenses in Nebraska. She sided with those who think Nebraska’s policy singles out one type of immigrant.

“I don’t think,” Rodriguez said. “I’m sure they’re discriminating against this one group.” Read more about Denial of driver’s licenses called bias

A Salem man was sentenced to almost six years in prison Monday for his role in a hit-and-run near Gervais in August that injured three people.Eleazar Martinez-Ortiz, 20, pleaded guilty to three counts of assault and was sentenced to 70 months in prison and three years of probation.

He was convicted of driving his van into three people who had been standing on the shoulder of the road trying to jump-start a car. Martinez-Ortiz then reportedly left the Dodge Caravan he was driving and ran away.

The crash occurred at 11:30 p.m. Aug. 6 on Howell Prairie Road NE near Mt. Angel-Gervais Road NE.

Marion County sheriff’s deputies along with other area law enforcement including police dogs searched the area that night but did not find the driver.

After a three-day investigation, Martinez-Ortiz was arrested at a berry farm where he worked in Molalla.

MARTINEZ-ORTIZ, ELEAZAR - ICE hold Read more about Salem man sentenced in hit-and-run crash

Walkers from Portland joined others at the Capitol this afternoon to urge reinstatement of driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants in Oregon.

The group wants Gov. John Kitzhaber to take steps to reverse a 2007 executive order by then-Gov. Ted Kulongoski, and then written into law by the Legislature in 2008.

Jayme Limon, who led the rally outside the Capitol, said Kitzhaber has talked a lot about education, health care and jobs as his top priorities.

“Unfortunately for undocumented immigrants, not having a driver’s license affects all three – the education of children, the health of families and jobs for hard-working people,” said Limon, whose family moved from Portland to Vancouver, Wash., after Oregon lawmakers made legal presence in the United States a requirement for obtaining driver’s licenses and identification cards. Among acceptable documents for proof of legal presence are a birth certificate, passport or tribal ID.

Most states changed their standard for issuing driver’s licenses to comply with the federal Real ID Act of 2005, although the federal law does allow states to issue licenses that are marked as not valid for federal identification purposes.

Washington is one of two states that issue some licenses without proof of legal presence. The other is New Mexico. Utah issues a driving privilege card that must be renewed every year.

A group of walkers made their way from Portland to Salem over four days, ending Monday, to call attention to their cause.

They were among 60 people who rallied at the Capitol today before presenting petitions with 5,000 signatures to the governor’s office. Frank Garcia, Kitzhaber’s diversity director, met with a few of the petitioners.

Hundreds showed up at the Capitol on April 18, 2011, for a bill that would have allowed the state to issue licenses without proof of legal presence. But the bill did not advance.
 
  Read more about Capitol demonstration supports reinstatement of drivers' licenses for undocumented immigrants

SEATTLE (AP) - The races for governor and attorney general have brought renewed attention to a proposal that would create a two-tiered driver's license system in Washington to address the issue of driving by immigrants who can't provide proof of legal U.S. residency.

Washington and New Mexico remain the only two states in the country not to require proof of legal U.S. residency when applying for a driver's license.

Under the proposal known as the Utah model, a person who can't prove U.S. residency can get a permit that allows them to drive, but that document is not a valid identification.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna backs the idea, and attorney general candidates Republican Reagan Dunn and Democrat Bob Ferguson speak of it favorably.

"The idea that you should be able to obtain (a key identity document) without proving you're a legal resident of the country is seriously mistaken," McKenna said during a debate in Yakima earlier this month.

McKenna's opponent, Democrat Jay Inslee, has said he prefers keeping Washington's current system in place.

Over the years, this has been a contentious issue in Olympia that pits immigrant advocacy groups against conservatives.

Immigrant groups argue that when illegal immigrants have access to driver's licenses, it creates safer roads and allows them to purchase insurance. Opponents say that failing to ask for proof of U.S. residency invites identity fraud and could end up putting noncitizens in the state's voter rolls.

In Utah, one industry that relies heavily on immigrant labor hasn't seen much change since the law there was passed in 2005.

"Certainly there are labor shortages in our agricultural community, but we didn't feel (the driver's license law) had a significant impact," said Sterling Brown, vice president of public policy at the Utah Farm Bureau Federation. "It has not had an immediate or significant impact on the agriculture community."

According to Utah Driver License Division data, the number of people applying for the Driving Privilege Card has steadily climbed since 2005, from 21,600 to 38,997 in 2011. It peaked at 43,000 in 2008. That same year a state audit found that more than 75 percent of people who had the driving permit also had active car insurance, comparable to the 82 percent rate of drivers with a regular license.

But now immigrant rights groups in Utah are worried about information sharing between the state and the federal government.

In the 2011 legislative session, lawmakers changed the law to mandate the state to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if an applicant has a felony on this record. If the individual applying has a misdemeanor warrant outstanding, the state notifies the agency who sought the person's arrest.

Luis Garza, executive director of Comunidades Unidas, says he's concerned that people with minor offenses such as traffic infractions will be caught in the dragnet. He's also worried about the database of people applying for the driving permits being leaked.

Beyond that, the system creates a two-class society, he said.

"They have big red letters saying for 'driving privilege only'," Garza said. "Anyone who shows that card - who may or may not be undocumented in the country - is a second class citizen."

In 2010, the Utah Legislature created another driving permit for noncitizen legal residents, who initially could get the Driving Privilege Card. Still, nearly 160 legal immigrants have the permit.

It's not just immigrant rights groups who oppose the two-tier system. In 2011, a Republican state senator wanted to undue the law because he saw the driving permit as a magnet for illegal immigrants.

In Washington, numerous bills to require proof of U.S. residency have been filed but have never made it the floor of any legislative chamber in recent memory. A bill using the Utah model was introduced in 2011, but did not make it out of committee.

In 2010, the Department of Licensing answered some of the concerns about driver's licenses by narrowing the documents that it now requires to provide proof of Washington residency. It now requires proof of a valid Washington residence address if an applicant doesn't provide a verified Social Security number. The proof documents, such as rental agreements, will be copied and verified by the agency before a permanent license is issued.

"First and foremost, we believe the current system works and we want as much as possible that DOL doesn't become ICE," said Toby Guiven, public policy director at OneAmerica, an immigrant advocacy group.

According to Department of Licensing data, fewer out-of-state people who didn't provide a Social Security number have sought to obtain a driver's license in Washington in the last two years, suggesting the department's new restrictions are deterring illegal immigrants from other state from getting a license here.

The department's data shows that in 2011, 9,237 people didn't provide a Social Security number when obtaining a license. In all of 2010, more than 23,000 did not. As of October of 2012, more than 5,000 have.

Guiven argued that creating a new system would add costs to the state budget, new bureaucracies and more wait time at the local DMV office.

In Utah, wait lines did increase shortly after the new law was passed, but subsequently decreased, according to an audit.

One unsolved issue around driver's licenses is the arrival of the federal REAL ID act. It was passed in 2005, but its implementation has been delayed since then. The latest deadline for states to come into compliance is January of next year. But officials expect that deadline to be extended.

Department of Licensing spokeswoman Chris Anthony said the Department of Homeland Security has asked for so far an update package for the state at the end of October, but that's it so far.

She added that state lawmakers passed a measure that prohibited the department from acting on REAL ID until the federal government provided money.

  Read more about State gov race brings attention to immigrant driver's licenses

A small group began a four-day walk Friday from Portland to Salem to seek reinstatement of driver licenses for undocumented immigrants.

The walkers were scheduled to reach Salem for an event Tuesday afternoon at the Capitol. Eight started out on the walk, which will be in four stages. Friday’s stage ended in Oregon City. Canby, Woodburn and Salem will be the other stops.

They will urge Gov. John Kitzhaber to take steps to restore access by undocumented immigrants to licenses, which have been more restrictive since a 2007 executive order by then-Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

The Legislature in 2008 made legal presence in the United States a requirement for obtaining driver licenses and nondriver identification cards, so it would take action by the Legislature to change it. Among the documents that can show proof of legal presence are a birth certificate, passport or tribal ID.

“We want to urge Gov. Kitzhaber to make it (change) one of his priorities,” said Sindy Avila, a spokeswoman for Oregon Dream Activists.

“We know he cannot reverse the law and that it has to go to the Legislature. But we feel this is a great first step in educating the community about how not having drivers’ licenses affects undocumented people, and spreads our message.”

Avila said her group wants to call attention to the necessity for drivers’ licenses, which allow mobility of people for work, school and family chores.

The walkers will stay at parishes that have opened their doors to them along the way, Avila said.

Hundreds showed up at the Capitol on April 18. 2011, for a legislative hearing on a bill to allow the state to issue licenses without proof of legal presence. But the bill was heard after a deadline to advance legislation, and it died without further action.

Kulongoski and lawmakers acted to comply with the federal Real ID Act of 2005, which requires states to take specified steps to make driver licenses more secure if licenses are used as identification to board commercial aircraft or enter federal buildings.

The federal law does allow states to issue licenses without proof of legal presence if the licenses are clearly marked as not valid for federal identification purposes.

New Mexico and Washington issue some licenses without proof of legal presence. Washington also issues an “enhanced” license that can be used for federal identification purposes and identification to and from Canada.

Governors of both states have proposed legal-presence licenses, but lawmakers have not approved those requests.

Utah issues a driving privilege card that must be renewed every year. A similar proposal was shelved by Oregon lawmakers in 2005, although it cleared a House committee. Tennessee also issued a separate card, but has repealed its law.
  Read more about Walkers aim to get driver's licenses back for undocumented immigrants

Lack of immigration papers prompted a Churchill High School student to flee a traffic stop on March 7, causing an accident that killed two people, his attorney said on Thursday.

Emanuel Herrera-­Gutierrez, 16, was sentenced to 75 months in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter for recklessly causing the deaths of Toni Lynn Bryson and Richard Lee Taylor. Defense attorney John Kolego said his client was not a legal resident of the United States, despite living here nearly all his life.

“He knew this dark secret that he had, that he was undocumented, even though he’d been here since he was 2,” Kolego said in an interview after the sentencing. “And when he was pulled over by the police officer, the fact that he was undocumented, the fact that he could potentially cause problems for his whole family, just led to pure panic. ... He just panicked and took off. Unfortunately that led to the deaths of two people and to two police officers being injured.”

Herrera-Gutierrez was driving his parents’ 2000 Nissan Maxima 90 miles per hour when he ran a red light at West 11th Avenue and Bertlesen Road and slammed into a vehicle driven by Taylor, prosecutor Dave Hopkins said at the sentencing. Taylor, 62, and his passenger Bryson, 43, were both ejected and died of their injuries at a hospital.

The Nissan then careened into a Eugene police patrol car that happened to be sitting at the red light, Hopkins said, injuring officers Kyle Evans and Joshua Sundquist. The impact caused the Nissan’s engine to catch fire, and both jumped out to render aid, the Lane County deputy district attorney said.

“Officer Sundquist, with one (injured) arm dangling, gets a fire extinguisher to put out the fire,” Hopkins said.

Herrera-Gutierrez was initially unresponsive when Evans tried to check on him, but when the teen came to, he tried to start the car again instead of trying to get out of it, the prosecutor said.

Herrera-Gutierrez probably will face deportation after completing his sentence, Kolego said.
It’s not clear what country the teen was born in. Nearly a dozen people who appeared to be his family members attended the sentencing, but did not respond to a reporter’s interview request. Several of them wept quietly throughout the proceeding.

No relatives of Taylor or Bryson were in the courtroom, though one of Bryson’s sisters made a statement by telephone from her home on the Oregon Coast.

“We loved our sister, and she had four children and they lost their mom,” Dory Thurman told Lane County Circuit Judge Karsten Rasmussen. “We will have to live with this for the rest of our lives. I’m sorry that everybody has to suffer for the choices (Herrera-Gutierrez) made that night.”

Kolego said the teen’s undocumented status also helped set those events in motion. Because of it, he was unable to get a driver’s permit and license, as most of his peers were doing. Wanting to drive, he waited until his parents were asleep that night and took their car out without permission.

He made another in a “series of catastrophic choices” when he decided to speed on the Randy Papé Beltline, Hopkins said. An Oregon State Police trooper saw Herrera-Gutierrez driving “about 100 miles an hour” and began pursuing him shortly before the 12:33 a.m. crash, the prosecutor said.

The teen initially pulled over just past the Barger Drive overpass, Hopkins said. But as soon as the trooper got out of his vehicle, Herrera-Gutierrez took off southbound toward West 11th Avenue, where he turned east and accelerated toward the site of the impending crash.

Hopkins told Rasmussen that the teen never asked about the condition of Bryson and Taylor, despite seeing them receiving medical attention at the crash scene and later being taken to the same emergency room as Taylor.

Under Oregon’s Ballot Measure 11, he was charged as an adult and will serve the mandatory minimum sentence of 75 months for second-degree manslaughter. He will do so in the custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections rather than the Oregon Youth Authority, despite his young age, his lack of criminal record and the fact that drugs and alcohol were not involved in the crash.

Kolego told the judge that his client was not indifferent to the harm he’d caused, but was dazed after suffering a concussion.

After the hearing, the defense attorney expressed hope that Herrera-Gutierrez would be incarcerated at the state’s MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn until age 18, and “hopefully, if he continues to behave himself, will remain isolated from hardened prisoners” after that. Kolego said Lane County juvenile detention officials have said they’ve never had a young inmate as well-behaved as his client.

“This is a really decent kid who made a horrific decision when he was too young to fully appreciate the risk he was putting other people in,” the defense attorney said. Read more about Teen’s secret tied to fatal crash

A 58-year-old woman whose car struck a visually impaired Salem author while she was high on two drugs and legally blind was sentenced Tuesday to 70 months —almost six years — in prison.

Paige Clarkson, a Marion County deputy district attorney, said that Rose Litherland was high on both methamphetamine and marijuana on May 29 when she drove through the intersection at 17th and Chemeketa streets NE and hit John Dashney, 70, in the marked crosswalk.

“She did not see him and barreled through the crosswalk,” Clarkson said.

She did not have a valid driver’s license and is legally blind — although her attorney James Susee clarified that she has cataracts and could see well.

Dashney, an author of children’s books who is blind, suffered a broken back and ribs, punctured lungs, a blood clot on his kidney and a large cut to the back of the head.

He was in critical condition for several weeks before he was released from Salem Hospital on June 21. He is still receiving rehabilitation treatment, but is otherwise back up and walking, Clarkson said.

“He was not expected to survive his injuries … Frankly Mr. Dashney is lucky to be alive today,” Clarkson said. “Now he’s back to doing what he loves, signing and writing children’s books.”

In court Tuesday, Litherland pleaded no contest to a Measure 11 charge of second-degree assault and guilty to driving under the influence of intoxicants.

Litherland answered all of Judge Broyles’ questions with a yes or no, and did not say anything when given the chance.

“I think she’s very remorseful, she just doesn’t show it,” Susee said.

Clarkson said Dashney’s medical expenses are more than $300,000, but asked for a six-month delay in submitting a final amount of restitution in the case.

Susee said that Litherland is a permanent resident but is originally from an island in the South Pacific. He said that she was unemployed and would likely be deported so expressed doubts about her ability to pay.

“I’m hopeful that Mr. Dashney won’t have to suffer a financial loss,” Clarkson said. She said, however, that she will work to make sure that Litherland is held accountable for the costs. Read more about Woman sentenced in DUI crash that injured Salem children's author