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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained Roberto Galo on Wednesday morning. Galo is a legal immigrant but an unlicensed driver who, on Nov. 16, 2010, took a left turn at Harrison and 16th streets in San Francisco. His car struck law student Drew Rosenberg. Witnesses later testified that Galo then backed over Rosenberg, who died. The law student's father, Don Rosenberg of Westlake Village, Calif., has been waging a crusade ever since. He's angry at San Francisco's policy, announced by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2009, that shielded unlicensed drivers from an automatic 30-day impoundment of their vehicles. He's furious...

Unlicensed drivers are nearly three times likelier than licensed drivers to cause a fatal crash in California. Indeed, unlicensed drivers are likelier to cause fatal crashes than drivers who have had their licenses suspended or revoked. So found a new study released by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The study recommended "the use of countermeasures, including vehicle impoundment," to save lives. That's a problem for San Francisco. In 2009, then-Mayor Gavin Newsom said police would allow unlicensed drivers to avoid a 30-day impound if they could find someone with a license to drive away their car in 20 minutes....

This nation is a melting pot of immigrants, both legal and not. Our state is no different. We celebrate the ethnic diversity of our population and welcome those who come to this country and pursue citizenship, and whose work and effort have helped make this country great. We also have a continuing concern with the numbers of immigrants in this country who are here without any legal authority. Many of them have come to America from our southern neighbor seeking work and a better life for their families. Another large percentage of the undocumented immigrants came to our country legally...

CHICAGO (AP) — When Illinois' top political leaders touted a proposal to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, it was painted as public safety measure and had the backing of immigrant rights advocates, who deemed it a positive step in the fight for immigration reform. But the idea has run into some resistance among illegal immigrants themselves.For many of Illinois' estimated 250,000 undocumented residents of driving age, volunteering an address, photograph and birth certificate to a state database seems like a risk, possibly more than driving without a license."They will have my record, maybe one day they (authorities) will...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – After a review of Iowa law, the Iowa Department of Transportation will cease issuing driver’s licenses to young illegal immigrants eligible to work in this country under an Obama administration deferred prosecution policy. The department has issued at least one driver’s license and one non-operator’s ID since President Obama announced his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Obama changed federal policy in June to let certain illegal immigrants apply for a temporary work permit if they were brought to the country as children. However, after reviewing the memorandum issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on...

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) - After seeing what he calls their "passion and pain", Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell promises he will try to help illegal immigrants get a drivers license or identification card. "We must respond," he told a crowd of immigrants at city hall Tuesday night. "We don't issue drivers licenses or identification cards in the city, but I know we must respond and figure out the most effective way to address your concerns with the State of Michigan." The Mayor offered his support after immigrants, legal and illegal, spoke at the city commission meeting Tuesday night. They are...

Some illegal immigrants could get California drivers licenses under a bill that Gov. Jerry Brown announced he signed into law late Sunday. AB2189 by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, will let the Department of Motor Vehicles issue licenses to illegal immigrants eligible for work permits under a new Obama administration policy. The bill requires the department to accept as proof of legal residence whatever document the federal government provides to participants in its deferred action program. Cedillo said his bill will make roads safer while letting young immigrants drive to school and to work. His reasoning drew support from several...

Young undocumented immigrants will be able to receive California driver’s licenses under legislation Gov. Jerry Brown signed on Sunday. As many as 350,000 undocumented immigrants in California may be eligible for the Obama administration program, which waives the threat of deportation for two years for those who have no criminal record. According to The Times' Patrick McGreevy: Young people would qualify if they are accepted by a federal program giving work permits to those who came to this country before they were 16 and are now 30 or younger. Brown spokesman Gil Duran said that by issuing the driver’s licenses,...

TRENTON, N.J., - New Jersey officials said the ban on smiling for driver's licenses is due to facial recognition software designed to prevent fraud. Mike Horan, spokesman for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, said people posing for driver's license pictures are asked to refrain from smiling or making other facial expressions so as not to confuse the facial recognition software, the Philadelphia Daily News reported Thursday. The spokesman said the software, which was adopted in January, is designed to prevent anyone who already has a license from getting a second document under a different name. "That could be someone...

The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission has cracked down on drivers smiling in their driver’s license photos because their smiles could interfere with new facial recognition software. New Jersey resident Velvet McNeil told the Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday that when she went to get her license at her local New Jersey motor vehicle center, she was told she could not smile for her photo. Shocked, McNeil said she walked out of the center. …

After two years of legislative debate about whether the state should continue issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, nearly three-fourths of New Mexicans still don’t like the idea. Seventy-one percent of likely New Mexican voters surveyed in a new Journal Poll said they oppose the 2003 state law that allows illegal immigrants to receive driver’s licenses. Twenty-one percent of voters said they support the practice; 8 percent said they are undecided. A majority of Anglos and Hispanics, as well as voters in every region of the state, opposed the practice.~~snip~~ Gov. Susana Martinez, after her election in 2010, frequently cited...

ATLANTA — Illegal immigrants who are granted permission to stay in the country under an Obama administration policy announced in June will be eligible for driver’s licenses in Georgia, the state’s attorney general wrote in a letter to the governor. “While I do not agree with the actions of the President in issuing the directive, it has been implemented by the Department of Homeland Security, USCIS, and state law recognizes the approval of deferred action status as a basis for issuing a temporary driver’s license,” Attorney General Sam Olens, a Republican, wrote in a letter obtained Thursday by The Associated...

The Ten Scariest DMV Horror Stories There is a dark side to driving in the US, and it is known as the DMV. Listen to these ten tales of woe from Jalopnik readers and you'll get a taste of American bureaucracy at its worst. 10.) Counterfeiters get Mustang GTs Suggested By: frankiepoops What happened: Worst experience that I ever had was when the NY DMV decided that my title for my 1996 green Mustang was counterfeit, not the first time I registered it, but when I went back to put it back on the road after parking it for a...

Check Your Driver's License. Now you can see anyone's Driver's License on the Internet and determine if yours is posted. I just searched for mine and there it was, picture and all! Thanks Homeland Security. Go to the Driver License Check and check to see if yours has been posted. Just enter your name, city, and state to view if yours is on file. After your license comes on the screen, click the box marked "Please Remove." This will remove it from public viewing, but not from law enforcement.

For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. As states continue to crack down on things like voter ID while others continue to seek ways to enforce immigration laws, near all states are now also trying to protect their most coveted form of ID-- the driver license. Initially responding to the controversial federal secure driver license law, REAL ID, states have learned by implementing the REAL ID Act they have curbed the identity theft and fraud used extensively by the illegal alien population and criminals. Janice Kephart, Director of National Security Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies...

A veteran California lawmaker said Friday he will, for the tenth time, introduce legislation to allow driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. As states continue to crack down on things like voter ID while others continue to seek ways to enforce immigration laws, near all states are now also trying to protect their most coveted form of ID-- the driver license...

After more than three hours of debate, the House of Representatives has voted to overturn the controversial state law that allows foreign nationals to obtain New Mexico driver’s licenses, regardless of whether they are in the country legally.

ESCONDIDO, Calif. - Delfino Aldama was fixing a customer's brakes this month when his smartphone chimed with a text message that tipped him to a police checkpoint more than an hour before officers began stopping motorists. The self-employed auto mechanic frantically called friends with the location and drove an alternate route home

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Nevada say Brown was a front-line clerk at the DMV office on Sahara Avenue in Las Vegas. Authorities say she used third parties to recruit customers who didn’t have identifying documents, and typically charged $1,500 to $3,000 for each license