why are they even testing them and simply not handing it to them like they do everything else???
Posted on 07/20/2015 5:13:15 PM PDT by nickcarraway
mmissioner of Motor Vehicles Andres Ayala issued a public apology Monday for a July 10 email that directed driving school operators not to tell customers that increased waiting times for state licensing tests have been caused by a new DMV program to give drivers' licenses to undocumented immigrants.
The email from the DMV's driver education unit to scores of driving schools had falsely stated that the increased waits didn't relate to the new program. It claimed that "additional staff was hired and appointments were added to allow for testing of undocumented applicants without negatively affecting test scheduling for legal residents of Connecticut."
In Monday's email to the same driving schools, Ayala said: "Our July 10 e-mail was incorrect in a statement made regarding delays in our testing appointments. Our attempt was to put the situation into context. However, it also presented a directive. We apologize for asking the driving schools to refrain from talking about this issue."
The unusual public retraction and apology came after a Sunday Government Watch column in the Courant disclosed statistics showing a tripling of waiting times for learners' permit and drivers' license testing appointments from 2014 to 2015. The statistics drew an admission from Ayala that, contrary to the message of the July 10 email, the longer waiting times are a direct result of an "onslaught" of applications from undocumented immigrants.
"Unfortunately … I probably should have looked at it a little bit closer," Ayala had said in that Friday interview concerning July 10, which he said had been produced under the supervision of Lynn Blackwell, the DMV's $119,397-a-year division chief for licensing. Blackwell submitted it to Ayala for his approval before it was sent.
Ayala's wording in the Monday apology was much more general about the false information than in his interview on Friday.
In Monday's email to the driving schools, Ayala said that the July 10 message was sent after the department took steps to "rebalance" appointment slots between undocumented immigrants and legal residents – so as not to let waiting times for legal residents get any longer.
However, those efforts did not eliminate the problem; waits of a couple of weeks to take a "knowledge test" for a learner's permit in 2014 are still about three months this year. And there are similar proportional increases in the time it takes to get an appointment for a road test to obtain a driver's license.
"We did not explain…thoroughly" the attempts to address situation and continued increase in waiting times, Ayala said.
"We are sending this e-mail in the interest of maintaining a good relationship with the schools that teach all our residents the safe driving practices that prevent crashes, injuries and deaths. Thank you for your understanding," Ayala wrote.
Republican House Minority Leader Themis Klarides used her Twitter account to criticize the DMV's false July 10 email, tweeting: "Either the DMV put out false information or the DMV didn't know what was going on; either scenario is bad…"
The new program for undocumented immigrants started Jan. 1, based on a 2013 law pushed through the General Assembly by the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. The bill allows the undocumented immigrants to take the "knowledge test" to obtain learner's permits, and then to take road tests with a DMV inspector to be issued a so-called "drive-only" license. It's called "drive-only" because it can't be used to help establish identity the way a regular license can when issued to a legal resident of Connecticut. The "drive-only" license signifies only that its holder passed all state requirements to drive a vehicle.
A central argument in favor of the 2013 legislation was to recognize the reality that there are tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants in Connecticut at a time when federal authorities are not enforcing immigration rules that might result in their deportation. Requiring training and testing for undocumented immigrants to be licensed, and to obtain insurance, would make the roads safer for everyone, the program's leading proponents in the Democratic legislative majority said.
The weekend Government Watch column reported that in 2014, someone who applied at the Bridgeport DMV branch on Aug. 28 could get a "knowledge test" appointment on Sept. 12 – but in 2015, legal residents who applied last Wednesday at Bridgeport got a test appointment on Oct. 21, a wait of more than three months.
Wait times for road tests to obtain licenses have increased similarly. At the Bridgeport office in mid-2014, the wait was 4½ weeks, and now it's 12 weeks.
The wait for "knowledge test" appointments for undocumented drive-only applicants is much longer — close to a year. For current drive-only applicants, "we are scheduling into May and June of 2016," DMV spokesman William Seymour said.
The DMV's false July 10 email said:
"The DMV has received several complaints regarding the wait time for learners' permit and driving tests in our offices. The majority of these complaints are from parents of your students who claim a representative of the school told them the reason for the extended wait times is because we also schedule appointments for applicants who are not legally present in the United States.
"Please refrain from telling parents and/or students that this is the reason for the wait times for appointments. ... Additional staff was hired and appointments were added to allow for testing of undocumented applicants without negatively affecting test scheduling for legal residents of Connecticut.
"Please ensure all members of your staff are aware of these facts and ask that they refrain from providing incorrect information to parents and students regarding wait times for appointments in our offices."
The owner of the largest driving school in the state – Brandon Dufour of All-Star Driver, based in Watertown – said last week that the DMV, rather than addressing the issue, "sent driving schools an e-mail asking us to only use the talking points they provide. … The DMV's mismanagement of the drive-only program is the main reason for these delays. … In a democracy, government agencies don't get to require talking points for private business."
On Monday, Dufour said: "While I appreciate and accept the DMV's apology, it isn't the point. This isn't about me, my company, or offending the other driving school owners. This is about Connecticut's residents, regardless of their documentation status, not being able to get a license due to the DMV's inability to plan and execute. …What I, and I think all people affected, want to know is what will be done by the DMV in the short term to fix the delay in scheduling, now."
ping
“Back of the Bus, shut up, and pay your taxes citizen.” -DMV
Any kin to Hector Ayala ?
Fraudulently documented foreigners come first!
Just ask ¡YEB! and most of the rest of the GOP
Illegal aliens should be deported not rewarded.
why are they even testing them and simply not handing it to them like they do everything else???
Oh, God, just stop! Why do these media hacks make fools of themselves chasing down every possible “say you’re sorry” crowd on the planet.
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