Posted on 10/10/2005 12:46:14 PM PDT by Millicent_Hornswaggle
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Manuel Hernandez gets nervous at the sight of a police car behind him in traffic, knowing he is breaking the law each time he gets behind the wheel.
The Guatemalan citizen living in Lexington lacks a drivers license.
“It’s a risk,” he said. But, “it’s reality.”
Hernandez is like thousands of undocumented immigrants, driving without a license because state law says they can’t have one. It is also difficult, if not nearly impossible, for them to get driver’s training or secure a driver’s manual in their native language to learn the rules of the road in their new country.
A recent wreck in Lexington that resulted in the death of a Mexican man, who police said didn’t have a valid license, brought the issue to light. It has also prompted some who drive without a license to question the laws that keep them from getting a valid permit.
“How are you going to get to work? Walk?” said Mario Barrios, a Mexican man who has lived in the United States, the past eight in Lexington.
Barrios, who works at a horse farm and is married to a U.S. citizen, tried to get a Kentucky license. Officials there told him he needed to show a Mexican passport and a visa showing he entered the U.S. legally.
“They said, ‘Before 9/11, maybe. Now, no way,”’ he said.
Laws in many states, including Kentucky, were tightened in the months after the terrorist attacks. According to state law, all non-U.S. citizens may drive in the country on their valid foreign driver’s license for up to one year after they come here.
After that, they are expected to get a U.S. driver’s license, which may not be possible for undocumented immigrants.
Punishing immigrants without a valid license is tough, said Assistant Fayette County Attorney Jack Miller. Kentucky has no legal way to charge a driver who consistently refuses to get a license.
“There’s no way to monitor how many times they’ve been here,” he said.
But, the lack of a license can also mean the lack of insurance, which can result in a person being arrested.
That’s what happened to Pablo Jimenez, who arrived in Kentucky five years ago from Mexico’s Oaxaca state.
“They took me to jail for a little while,” Jimenez, 27, said.
“The fines were going to be over a thousand dollars.”
After obtaining insurance and renewing the vehicle’s registration, Jimenez paid about $250 in fines.
Insurance companies such as Safe Auto will insure immigrants as long as they have a valid license from their country, even if they are undocumented, said Jene Taylor, a Safe Auto sales representative.
There are no exact figures, but Barrios estimates maybe half of immigrants begin driving here.
“There’s a lot who came here from Mexico that didn’t drive there, but drive here,” he said. “They’re the ones who get into crashes.”
Lexington Police Chief Anthany Beatty said undocumented immigrants, at the very least, need to be informed of the rules of the road and public transportation options.
“I know there are going to be those saying we shouldn’t spend money to educate someone who is not documented, we shouldn’t spend money to allow people to get cars and to have licenses, but the fact is they are here, and they are driving cars, and some of them don’t have licenses,” Beatty said.
State Rep. Mike Weaver wrote and pushed the 2002 state legislation that made it more difficult for immigrants to get a Kentucky driver’s license. He said it should be tough for illegal immigrants to get a license.
“Once they have a driver’s license, they can hide among us indefinitely,” he said.
But the Rev. Patrick Delahanty of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky said that logic is flawed.
“We have no idea whether they know what a stop sign is or don’t know what a stop sign is. We’ve created a situation where they’re not going to show up to show us. They’re not going to take a driver test. They’re not going to study the law of Kentucky and not have insurance,” he said.
------
Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader,
Will you take a Check? 8^)
Same with my mom in Danville last year. A whole carload hit her, tried to run, but was hemmed in by surrounding alert motorists.
Yeah? Notice how this a$$wipe who wrote this intentionally told every illegal how to get insurance....
"Insurance companies such as Safe Auto will insure immigrants as long as they have a valid license from their country, even if they are undocumented, said Jene Taylor, a Safe Auto sales representative."
I just got back from a meeting of a professional organization in Lexington. We were planning our Christmas donation to a local charity, and it appears we're going to be donating books to a local group which caters to the Hispanic community. By Hispanic, I mean "primarily illegals." The discussion focused on whether we would get childrens' books in Spanish or English.
Never mind the fact there are plenty of kids in eastern Kentucky who would love to have those books and could read them in English.
Uh, this isn't their country. If it were, they wouldn't be here illegally and this wouldn't be a problem.
Who is that "professional organization", the KEA maybe?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.