Rick Dean
Registered
6
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisla...y-dmv0410.story
New rules spark protest
BY JOHN MORENO GONZALES and MITCHELL FREEDMAN
Staff Writer
A group of some 100 East End residents protested and prayed in front of the Department of Motor Vehicles office in Riverhead Friday, challenging a crackdown they said could leave immigrants without the lifeblood of a driver's license, or identification card.
With signs bearing slogans like: "No licencia, No futuro," Father Orlando Cardona of the Hispanic Aspostolate of the South Fork led the rally against new policies
he said could leave New York immigrants with little means to commute, or cash a paycheck.
Standing by a 7-foot-high cross placed near the DMV's front door as a spiritual appeal to bureaucracy, Ca
rdo
a said: "If you don't have a license, you can't get a job. You ca
n't get to work. Transportation out here [on the East End] is a very bad situation."
"We're not targeting immigrants," said Joe Picchi, director of communications for the DMV. "We're trying to ferret out fraud. Some people have obtained multiple licenses because of poor driving records, or driving while intoxicated . . . We found 57 individuals who are using one Social Security number."
He said the crackdown began in late February to better comply with 1995 state and federal laws requiring the department to verify Social Security numbers. New technologies made more stringent cross-checking possible, and post-Sept. 11 security concerns require a better accounting of all resi
dents.
Unlike today, Picchi said that only a year ago no Social Security card was needed to take a drivers test or obtain a state identification card. Applicants -- including legal immigr
ants
and
undocument
ed immigrants -- only had to provide proof of birth and a collection of several forms of identification, i
ncluding credit card bills, utility bills, and other documents.
Picchi said the New York DMV has so far cross-checked about a third of its driver's records and mailed out 112,000 letters statewide to individuals whose Social Security number with the department did not match their number at the Social Security Administration. He said 76,000 of the letters were answered within the 15 days required to correct the inconsistency, or face suspension of a license or ID card.
Sister Margaret Smyth, another protester who runs a Hispanic outreach program on the North Fork, said the policy would keep many immigrants in the shadows of society.
"People with legal licenses are
told they have 15 days to have the information. People are beginning to turn in their licenses and sell their cars," she said of the landscapers and farmhands who rely upon aut
omobiles
to take
them to workplaces
across the sprawling East End.
Even though many residents who possess green cards also have a valid Social Se
curity card, some do not. It can take up to 41/2 months for legal immigrants to obtain a card from the Social Security Administration because of delays caused by a faulty verification process, Norman Eng of the New York Immigration Coalition in Manhattan said Friday.
In the face of the DMV's new requirements for a Social Security number, some undocumented immigrants have submitted fraudulent numbers to stay on the road, Smyth said.
State Assemb. Philip Ramos (D-Brentwood) and Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) sought to fix the problem last April when they introduced a bill that would allow the state's immigrants to use a tax identification number in place of a Soci
al Security number when applying for a license. The number ensures that a driver is paying into coffers that fund the Department of Motor Vehicles and other transportatio
n agencies,
Ramos said.
The bill was referred to th
e Assembly's transportation committee in January.
In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger repealed in Decembe
r a law granting driver's licenses to that state's undocumented immigrants. But with pressure from Latino groups he promised a replacement version that would grant the licenses under more stringent security provisions.
Back on the East End, Aracery Garcia, who moved from Guatemala a decade ago, held a crucifix during the protest and had her 5-year-old son, Bilbe, near her side. "I want all Spanish people to get their licenses. They will get a better life, get better jobs."
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisla...y-dmv0410.story
New rules spark protest
BY JOHN MORENO GONZALES and MITCHELL FREEDMAN
Staff Writer
A group of some 100 East End residents protested and prayed in front of the Department of Motor Vehicles office in Riverhead Friday, challenging a crackdown they said could leave immigrants without the lifeblood of a driver's license, or identification card.
With signs bearing slogans like: "No licencia, No futuro," Father Orlando Cardona of the Hispanic Aspostolate of the South Fork led the rally against new policies
he said could leave New York immigrants with little means to commute, or cash a paycheck.
Standing by a 7-foot-high cross placed near the DMV's front door as a spiritual appeal to bureaucracy, Ca
rdo
a said: "If you don't have a license, you can't get a job. You ca
n't get to work. Transportation out here [on the East End] is a very bad situation."
"We're not targeting immigrants," said Joe Picchi, director of communications for the DMV. "We're trying to ferret out fraud. Some people have obtained multiple licenses because of poor driving records, or driving while intoxicated . . . We found 57 individuals who are using one Social Security number."
He said the crackdown began in late February to better comply with 1995 state and federal laws requiring the department to verify Social Security numbers. New technologies made more stringent cross-checking possible, and post-Sept. 11 security concerns require a better accounting of all resi
dents.
Unlike today, Picchi said that only a year ago no Social Security card was needed to take a drivers test or obtain a state identification card. Applicants -- including legal immigr
ants
and
undocument
ed immigrants -- only had to provide proof of birth and a collection of several forms of identification, i
ncluding credit card bills, utility bills, and other documents.
Picchi said the New York DMV has so far cross-checked about a third of its driver's records and mailed out 112,000 letters statewide to individuals whose Social Security number with the department did not match their number at the Social Security Administration. He said 76,000 of the letters were answered within the 15 days required to correct the inconsistency, or face suspension of a license or ID card.
Sister Margaret Smyth, another protester who runs a Hispanic outreach program on the North Fork, said the policy would keep many immigrants in the shadows of society.
"People with legal licenses are
told they have 15 days to have the information. People are beginning to turn in their licenses and sell their cars," she said of the landscapers and farmhands who rely upon aut
omobiles
to take
them to workplaces
across the sprawling East End.
Even though many residents who possess green cards also have a valid Social Se
curity card, some do not. It can take up to 41/2 months for legal immigrants to obtain a card from the Social Security Administration because of delays caused by a faulty verification process, Norman Eng of the New York Immigration Coalition in Manhattan said Friday.
In the face of the DMV's new requirements for a Social Security number, some undocumented immigrants have submitted fraudulent numbers to stay on the road, Smyth said.
State Assemb. Philip Ramos (D-Brentwood) and Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) sought to fix the problem last April when they introduced a bill that would allow the state's immigrants to use a tax identification number in place of a Soci
al Security number when applying for a license. The number ensures that a driver is paying into coffers that fund the Department of Motor Vehicles and other transportatio
n agencies,
Ramos said.
The bill was referred to th
e Assembly's transportation committee in January.
In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger repealed in Decembe
r a law granting driver's licenses to that state's undocumented immigrants. But with pressure from Latino groups he promised a replacement version that would grant the licenses under more stringent security provisions.
Back on the East End, Aracery Garcia, who moved from Guatemala a decade ago, held a crucifix during the protest and had her 5-year-old son, Bilbe, near her side. "I want all Spanish people to get their licenses. They will get a better life, get better jobs."