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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

New Driver’s License Law ... Unintended Consequences?

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Tuesday, July 5, 2011   

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - A new law that ties citizenship and immigration status to the issuance of a Texas driver's license could cause harmful unintended consequences, according to critics. It requires officials of the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) to ask for proof of citizenship or legal status from anyone seeking a new or renewed Texas driver's license.

After the provision failed to make it through the Legislature on its own, it was inserted into the finance bill that passed both chambers last week. Supporters say it's necessary for national security.

However, Luis Figueroa, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, says it does alleviate some of his group's long-standing concerns, such as allowing certain temporary visa holders to obtain licenses. But he warns that immigration issues are too complex to leave to the DPS clerks who will be charged with enforcement.

"They're the judge and jury. There's no appeal process; there's no complaint process. There's no immigration attorney to be able to determine whether someone is getting the appropriate license."

He says the law needs to be fixed to ensure that a qualified driver can't be denied a license because of non-typical immigration status. He also wants assurances that new databases aren't abused, and that the added difficulty in obtaining a license doesn't hamper anyone's access to services and benefits.

Figueroa predicts the new procedures will magnify the consequences of another newly-passed measure, a photo ID law that imposes some of the strictest voting requirements in the nation. In his view, a loss of driving privileges could amount to a simultaneous loss of voting privileges, further disenfranchising the state's most vulnerable citizens.

"People who don't have driver's licenses are often the most vulnerable. People who are poor, students, the elderly. These are always the people for whom we should be trying to ensure that their rights are protected, not taking their rights away."

He says even Texans who can easily produce their birth certificates or passports should be concerned about the law for their own safety, since it will likely lead to more unlicensed drivers on the road without liability insurance.





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