Star-Ledger 9/29/03: N.J. illegal aliens fear they won't be driving
Apr 25th 2004, 2:16 pm
#1
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Posts: n/a
Star-Ledger 9/29/03: N.J. illegal aliens fear they won't be driving
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Sept 29, 2003 p001
N.J. illegal aliens fear they won't be driving; DMV identity checks
stop license renewal. (NEWS)
Byline: JOE MALINCONICO
In her 11 years driving in New Jersey, the woman has maintained a
spotless record. No accidents. No tickets. No trouble.
But the Elizabeth motorist, who asked that only her first name, Olga,
be published, expects to lose her driver's license when it comes up
for renewal in two years.
She is an illegal immigrant who obtained her driver's license in the
summer of 1992, when a court challenge forced New Jersey's motor
vehicles agency to briefly relax its identification requirements.
During a four-week window of opportunity in 1992 - before the state
resumed enforcing tougher standards - thousands of illegal immigrants
jumped at the chance to get legal New Jersey privileges. Many, like
Olga, later renewed their licenses through the mail and have been
driving legally ever since. Their driving privileges, however, are
coming to an end, now that the state has imposed a new identification
system for licenses. That program will require motorists seeking
renewals to go to motor vehicle offices with plenty of ID, including
proof of citizenship or legal residence.
"What happens to people like me?" asked Olga, a cleaning woman. "How
am I going to get to work?"
"I empathize with these people because they've been a part of our
society for 10 years, but the law is the law," said Diane Legreide,
chairwoman of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.
In New Jersey, the law has been quite clear for the past decade: The
state does not allow illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses.
Across the nation, 29 other states have laws like New Jersey's, which
require people applying for driver's licenses to prove they are in
this country legally. Twenty states do not mandate explicit proof of
citizenship or legal residency.
The issue has risen to prominence in California, where embattled Gov.
Gray Davis recently signed a law that allows illegal immigrants to
obtain driver's licenses, a move that critics say was designed to gain
support from Latinos in his efforts to fend off a recall.
New Jersey's new, tougher driver's license identification
requirements were not designed to target the thousands of illegal
immigrants who secured their documents during the summer of 1992.
State officials devised the new ID system in tandem with their plans
for issuing New Jersey's new digitized licenses, designed to prevent
fraud and counterfeiting with various high-tech safeguards.
Advocates of tougher requirements say they are essential because
state-issued driver's licenses are the closest thing to a national ID
card in the United States. They point to the bogus IDs used by
terrorists in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"If some states have policies that allow people who are not legally
here to get these documents, it doesn't square with our new security
mandates," said John Keeley, communications director for the Center
for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank.
Keeley said "99.9 percent of illegal immigrants mean no harm to
America." He said, however, that "America's enemies know how to
exploit the loopholes in America's security system."
Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement, a Washington, D.C., group,
has been pushing the California Attorney General's Office to block the
recent law allowing illegal immigrants to get licenses.
"It's real simple, if somebody is in this country illegally, they
shouldn't be allowed to get a driver's license," said Craig Nelsen,
executive director of the group. "No where else except this country
would this ever be a question."
But advocates for immigrants in New Jersey say the state's new
driver's license requirements are putting people like Olga in a bind.
"It's going to create a class of people who are going to lose their
jobs because they can't get their license renewed and it's going to
create a class of people who are going to continue to drive without a
license," said Amy Gottlieb, head of the immigrants rights program at
the American Friends Service Committee in Newark. "In the worst case
scenario, it will encourage people to do exactly what they trying to
prevent - to try to get licenses illegally."
That risk is a big one. In the past year, illegal immigrants who were
arrested at motor vehicle agencies for document fraud have been handed
over to federal immigration officials and faced deportation.
State officials said 10 years should have been enough time for
immigrants who got their licenses during the window of opportunity in
1992 to have since obtained legal status in this country. But
immigration lawyers say many of their clients struggle to meet the
requirements for getting legal status, such as holding skilled jobs or
finding a citizen to sponsor them.
In addition to the impact on illegal immigrants, critics say the
complicated new ID requirements, which went into effect this month,
are making it much more difficult for immigrants who are here legally
to get their licenses.
"I've had people calling me in a panic," said Robert Frank, a former
chairman of New Jersey's immigration lawyers association.
Legreide decided last week to establish a task force to examine the
complexity of dealing with immigrants' identification. For example,
she said, she recently learned that the federal government has
extended asylum for El Salvadoran immigrants for another year.
"But they have no paperwork on that," Legreide said, explaining the
difficulty such a decision creates for motor vehicle clerks trying to
determine whether someone should be eligible for a license.
The task force, Legreide said, would weigh changes in policies on
illegal immigrants as well as legal aliens.
Advocates say there are practical benefits to allowing illegal
immigrants to get licenses, including putting them through tests and
driver training.
"By and large, these people are a significant benefit to our
economy," said Edwin Rubin, former president of the New Jersey chapter
of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "We don't have a
vital temporary, non-professional work force in this state. These
people are needed.
"They're here anyway," Rubin said. "More and more of them are going
to be driving without licenses, which means they can't get insurance."
N.J. illegal aliens fear they won't be driving; DMV identity checks
stop license renewal. (NEWS)
Byline: JOE MALINCONICO
In her 11 years driving in New Jersey, the woman has maintained a
spotless record. No accidents. No tickets. No trouble.
But the Elizabeth motorist, who asked that only her first name, Olga,
be published, expects to lose her driver's license when it comes up
for renewal in two years.
She is an illegal immigrant who obtained her driver's license in the
summer of 1992, when a court challenge forced New Jersey's motor
vehicles agency to briefly relax its identification requirements.
During a four-week window of opportunity in 1992 - before the state
resumed enforcing tougher standards - thousands of illegal immigrants
jumped at the chance to get legal New Jersey privileges. Many, like
Olga, later renewed their licenses through the mail and have been
driving legally ever since. Their driving privileges, however, are
coming to an end, now that the state has imposed a new identification
system for licenses. That program will require motorists seeking
renewals to go to motor vehicle offices with plenty of ID, including
proof of citizenship or legal residence.
"What happens to people like me?" asked Olga, a cleaning woman. "How
am I going to get to work?"
"I empathize with these people because they've been a part of our
society for 10 years, but the law is the law," said Diane Legreide,
chairwoman of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.
In New Jersey, the law has been quite clear for the past decade: The
state does not allow illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses.
Across the nation, 29 other states have laws like New Jersey's, which
require people applying for driver's licenses to prove they are in
this country legally. Twenty states do not mandate explicit proof of
citizenship or legal residency.
The issue has risen to prominence in California, where embattled Gov.
Gray Davis recently signed a law that allows illegal immigrants to
obtain driver's licenses, a move that critics say was designed to gain
support from Latinos in his efforts to fend off a recall.
New Jersey's new, tougher driver's license identification
requirements were not designed to target the thousands of illegal
immigrants who secured their documents during the summer of 1992.
State officials devised the new ID system in tandem with their plans
for issuing New Jersey's new digitized licenses, designed to prevent
fraud and counterfeiting with various high-tech safeguards.
Advocates of tougher requirements say they are essential because
state-issued driver's licenses are the closest thing to a national ID
card in the United States. They point to the bogus IDs used by
terrorists in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"If some states have policies that allow people who are not legally
here to get these documents, it doesn't square with our new security
mandates," said John Keeley, communications director for the Center
for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank.
Keeley said "99.9 percent of illegal immigrants mean no harm to
America." He said, however, that "America's enemies know how to
exploit the loopholes in America's security system."
Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement, a Washington, D.C., group,
has been pushing the California Attorney General's Office to block the
recent law allowing illegal immigrants to get licenses.
"It's real simple, if somebody is in this country illegally, they
shouldn't be allowed to get a driver's license," said Craig Nelsen,
executive director of the group. "No where else except this country
would this ever be a question."
But advocates for immigrants in New Jersey say the state's new
driver's license requirements are putting people like Olga in a bind.
"It's going to create a class of people who are going to lose their
jobs because they can't get their license renewed and it's going to
create a class of people who are going to continue to drive without a
license," said Amy Gottlieb, head of the immigrants rights program at
the American Friends Service Committee in Newark. "In the worst case
scenario, it will encourage people to do exactly what they trying to
prevent - to try to get licenses illegally."
That risk is a big one. In the past year, illegal immigrants who were
arrested at motor vehicle agencies for document fraud have been handed
over to federal immigration officials and faced deportation.
State officials said 10 years should have been enough time for
immigrants who got their licenses during the window of opportunity in
1992 to have since obtained legal status in this country. But
immigration lawyers say many of their clients struggle to meet the
requirements for getting legal status, such as holding skilled jobs or
finding a citizen to sponsor them.
In addition to the impact on illegal immigrants, critics say the
complicated new ID requirements, which went into effect this month,
are making it much more difficult for immigrants who are here legally
to get their licenses.
"I've had people calling me in a panic," said Robert Frank, a former
chairman of New Jersey's immigration lawyers association.
Legreide decided last week to establish a task force to examine the
complexity of dealing with immigrants' identification. For example,
she said, she recently learned that the federal government has
extended asylum for El Salvadoran immigrants for another year.
"But they have no paperwork on that," Legreide said, explaining the
difficulty such a decision creates for motor vehicle clerks trying to
determine whether someone should be eligible for a license.
The task force, Legreide said, would weigh changes in policies on
illegal immigrants as well as legal aliens.
Advocates say there are practical benefits to allowing illegal
immigrants to get licenses, including putting them through tests and
driver training.
"By and large, these people are a significant benefit to our
economy," said Edwin Rubin, former president of the New Jersey chapter
of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "We don't have a
vital temporary, non-professional work force in this state. These
people are needed.
"They're here anyway," Rubin said. "More and more of them are going
to be driving without licenses, which means they can't get insurance."
Apr 25th 2004, 4:47 pm
#2
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 709
Re: Star-Ledger 9/29/03: N.J. illegal aliens fear they won't be driving
And in other unrelated news ..
sales of bus passes have increased 3-fold. And new survey's indicate traffic has decreased on congested highways, and smog levels are their lowest in 10 years.
Democrats statewide are immediately taking credit for it.
-= nav =-
sales of bus passes have increased 3-fold. And new survey's indicate traffic has decreased on congested highways, and smog levels are their lowest in 10 years.
Democrats statewide are immediately taking credit for it.
-= nav =-
Apr 25th 2004, 9:18 pm
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Star-Ledger 9/29/03: N.J. illegal aliens fear they won't be driving
supernav <member16283@british_expats.com> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> And in other unrelated news ..
>
> sales of bus passes have increased 3-
> fold. And new survey's indicate traffic has decreased on congested
> highways, and smog levels are their lowest in 10 years.
Not bloodly likely. The real facts are that people like you get wasted
by uninsured motorists who drive unlicensed. And your lives are
ruined, and the medical bills drive you into bankruptcy...
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), April 14, 2004 p013
Laws fail to put the brakes on Morristown menace on wheels. (NEW
JERSEY)
Byline: BILL SWAYZE AND MARK MUELLER
For nearly two decades, Peter Perrault has been legally barred from
driving in New Jersey.
That hasn't stopped him.
Since his first license suspension for drunken driving in 1985, the
Morristown man has continued to cruise the state's roads, racking up
ticket after ticket, suspension after suspension and accident after
accident.
Once, Perrault injured someone else in a crash. Another time, he
nearly died. Several times he received short jail sentences.
Still, he got behind the wheel, a roving menace who has accrued 53
moving violations, four drunken driving arrests, 102 suspensions and a
motor vehicle rap sheet that runs to 19 pages, authorities say.
Perrault, a 43-year-old tile installer, now finds himself behind bars
again.
Fresh off a 20-day stint in the Somerset County Jail for driving with
a suspended license, Perrault was transferred Monday to the Morris
County Jail on an arrest warrant out of Hanover Township, where he
failed to appear in court April 5 to answer an identical charge.
While Perrault was in custody, a records search showed another
warrant, almost a year old, out of Parsippany. Yesterday afternoon, a
municipal court judge in that town sentenced Perrault to 10 days in
jail for driving without a license. He is scheduled to appear in court
on the Hanover Township charge on Monday.
The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission does not keep a list of the
state's worst drivers, but an agency spokesman, Derrick Stokes, said
yesterday he wouldn't be surprised if Perrault rated near the top.
"In general, he has one of the worst driving records I have ever
seen," Stokes said.
Perrault's aunt, Jean Maw, calls her nephew's driving woes
"mindboggling." Maw, a Mendham Township resident, said family members
have tried to help Perrault from time to time, but he has repeatedly
downplayed his troubles.
"He's a great talker," the aunt said.
She described her nephew as "the nicest kid you'd ever want to meet,"
an expert tile installer who would "do anything for anybody."
Maw's husband, Ernie, echoed the assessment of his nephew's
character, at the same time allowing, "He's a lousy driver. A little
wild on the roads."
Records show that wildness dates to 1982, when Perrault received his
first speeding ticket - 60 mph in a 40 mph zone in Convent Station -
and got into his first accident.
Seven more accidents would follow, the last one in 1995.
Twice he left the scene of crashes. The first occurred in Randolph in
1986, when he caused injury, authorities said. The second came in
Whippany in 1992, when he caused property damage.
A year earlier, a crash nearly killed him.
On Dec. 11, 1991, Perrault rear-ended a station wagon on Route 287 in
Hanover, according to a news account of the crash. Perrault's van
became airborne, landing on several three-ton concrete blocks set
aside for the construction of an exit ramp.
Freed with the "jaws of life," Perrault was airlifted to University
Hospital in Newark, where he was initially listed in critical
condition.
He was later charged with driving under the influence, his fourth and
final drunken driving arrest.
Even then, Perrault continued to drive - and to chalk up moving
violations. Currently, he has 42 points on his license, said Stokes,
the Motor Vehicle Commission spokesman. Were Perrault to pay the
thousands of dollars in fines he owes and abide by the law, he would
not earn his license back until Dec. 13, 2035, Stokes said.
Family members and authorities said Perrault has been jailed several
times - at least three times since 2001 - but that nothing has
deterred him from getting behind the wheel.
He's also displayed little respect for the courts, skipping out on 11
appearances between December 1991 and July of last year, motor vehicle
records show.
Stokes said the motor vehicle agency, in the midst of an overhaul to
upgrade service, can do nothing about Perrault and drivers like him
beyond suspending their licenses.
"The MVC does not have any enforcement powers," Stokes said. "We can
always suspend a person's license, but it's up to the court and law
enforcement agencies to remove a problem driver from the road."
> And in other unrelated news ..
>
> sales of bus passes have increased 3-
> fold. And new survey's indicate traffic has decreased on congested
> highways, and smog levels are their lowest in 10 years.
Not bloodly likely. The real facts are that people like you get wasted
by uninsured motorists who drive unlicensed. And your lives are
ruined, and the medical bills drive you into bankruptcy...
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), April 14, 2004 p013
Laws fail to put the brakes on Morristown menace on wheels. (NEW
JERSEY)
Byline: BILL SWAYZE AND MARK MUELLER
For nearly two decades, Peter Perrault has been legally barred from
driving in New Jersey.
That hasn't stopped him.
Since his first license suspension for drunken driving in 1985, the
Morristown man has continued to cruise the state's roads, racking up
ticket after ticket, suspension after suspension and accident after
accident.
Once, Perrault injured someone else in a crash. Another time, he
nearly died. Several times he received short jail sentences.
Still, he got behind the wheel, a roving menace who has accrued 53
moving violations, four drunken driving arrests, 102 suspensions and a
motor vehicle rap sheet that runs to 19 pages, authorities say.
Perrault, a 43-year-old tile installer, now finds himself behind bars
again.
Fresh off a 20-day stint in the Somerset County Jail for driving with
a suspended license, Perrault was transferred Monday to the Morris
County Jail on an arrest warrant out of Hanover Township, where he
failed to appear in court April 5 to answer an identical charge.
While Perrault was in custody, a records search showed another
warrant, almost a year old, out of Parsippany. Yesterday afternoon, a
municipal court judge in that town sentenced Perrault to 10 days in
jail for driving without a license. He is scheduled to appear in court
on the Hanover Township charge on Monday.
The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission does not keep a list of the
state's worst drivers, but an agency spokesman, Derrick Stokes, said
yesterday he wouldn't be surprised if Perrault rated near the top.
"In general, he has one of the worst driving records I have ever
seen," Stokes said.
Perrault's aunt, Jean Maw, calls her nephew's driving woes
"mindboggling." Maw, a Mendham Township resident, said family members
have tried to help Perrault from time to time, but he has repeatedly
downplayed his troubles.
"He's a great talker," the aunt said.
She described her nephew as "the nicest kid you'd ever want to meet,"
an expert tile installer who would "do anything for anybody."
Maw's husband, Ernie, echoed the assessment of his nephew's
character, at the same time allowing, "He's a lousy driver. A little
wild on the roads."
Records show that wildness dates to 1982, when Perrault received his
first speeding ticket - 60 mph in a 40 mph zone in Convent Station -
and got into his first accident.
Seven more accidents would follow, the last one in 1995.
Twice he left the scene of crashes. The first occurred in Randolph in
1986, when he caused injury, authorities said. The second came in
Whippany in 1992, when he caused property damage.
A year earlier, a crash nearly killed him.
On Dec. 11, 1991, Perrault rear-ended a station wagon on Route 287 in
Hanover, according to a news account of the crash. Perrault's van
became airborne, landing on several three-ton concrete blocks set
aside for the construction of an exit ramp.
Freed with the "jaws of life," Perrault was airlifted to University
Hospital in Newark, where he was initially listed in critical
condition.
He was later charged with driving under the influence, his fourth and
final drunken driving arrest.
Even then, Perrault continued to drive - and to chalk up moving
violations. Currently, he has 42 points on his license, said Stokes,
the Motor Vehicle Commission spokesman. Were Perrault to pay the
thousands of dollars in fines he owes and abide by the law, he would
not earn his license back until Dec. 13, 2035, Stokes said.
Family members and authorities said Perrault has been jailed several
times - at least three times since 2001 - but that nothing has
deterred him from getting behind the wheel.
He's also displayed little respect for the courts, skipping out on 11
appearances between December 1991 and July of last year, motor vehicle
records show.
Stokes said the motor vehicle agency, in the midst of an overhaul to
upgrade service, can do nothing about Perrault and drivers like him
beyond suspending their licenses.
"The MVC does not have any enforcement powers," Stokes said. "We can
always suspend a person's license, but it's up to the court and law
enforcement agencies to remove a problem driver from the road."
