Just in case some would like to know what the new laws effect is having on all Americans.
License to frustrate: Get-tough ID policies could snag all Floridians
As immigration and security concerns mount, new rules for driver's licenses bring confusion and inconvenience
Michael Mayo
News Columnist
7:45 PM EDT, May 8, 2010
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No matter how you feel about illegal immigration, and no matter how much we want to protect ourselves from terrorism, the hellish bureaucratic scenes now unfolding at DMV offices across South Florida serve as a reminder: Be careful what you wish for.
Outside the Fort Lauderdale branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles on Thursday, I found a hot and bothered group snaked in line around a dismal strip mall. They clutched birth certificates, passports, citizenship diplomas, Social Security cards, paystubs, FPL bills, phone bills and bank statements.
All to get a driver's license.
"This is my fifth trip," said Rita Miller, whose purse was stolen last month.
"There's still going to be illegal immigrants and terrorists," said Scott Salberg. "They're just not going to come here to get a driver's license."
Said Paul Sendles, a British expatriate with a U.S. green card: "What's next? Are we going to have to give fingerprints to get a license?"
Many Floridians have been caught off-guard by a new law with strict documentation requirements that went into effect Jan. 1.
If you want to get a driver's license — including renewals and replacements for lost and stolen licenses — you pretty much have to show up in person at a DMV office and bring everything but your first born.
If you renewed online or by mail last time, you'll have to show up in person with the required documents next time. Doesn't matter how long you've lived in Florida or had a driver's license here.
Among the ID requirements: an original birth certificate [with raised seal] or valid passport; a Social Security card, paystub or certain tax forms [like a W2 or 1099] with your Social Security number; and two things that show your current address [like utility bills or a voter's registration card].
If it all sounds confusing, it is.
The new law stems from the 2005 Real ID Act passed by Congress. Fueled by national-security and illegal-immigrant concerns after 9-11, it compelled states to toughen up documentation requirements for licenses and IDs. States have until 2011 to comply, although many states have resisted and the whole thing could be ditched.
At local motor vehicle offices, three- and four-hour waits have become common. Many have been forced to make repeated trips if they don't bring all the right forms.
As I listened to some of the horror stories in line, I had one thought: As bad as this seems, I'm sure glad I'm not in Arizona.
Because if this is what people have to go through to prove they belong once every six years, can you imagine living in a place where authorities have the right to make you prove you're here legally anytime and anywhere?
Arizona's new law gives police broad powers to ferret out illegal immigrants based on "reasonable suspicion."
As I saw at the DMV, even native-born U.S. citizens can have a tough time coming up with the appropriate paperwork when they have plenty of notice.
Take the case of Laurie Green of Coral Springs, who has lived in South Florida for 10 years. Her driver's license was set to expire this week. She doesn't have a passport. When she learned of the new rules, she ordered an official copy of her birth certificate from Los Angeles.
That was in April. She still hasn't received it.
"With all the budget problems and cutbacks in California, they say it might take three or four months," Green said.
She stood in line on Thursday to get a 30-day extension on her current license. She doesn't know what she'll do if her birth certificate doesn't arrive by June.
"I think this is ridiculous," Green said. "It's just a hassle now."
One woman said the DMV clerk wouldn't issue a license because of a discrepancy between her birth certificate [which listed her full middle name] and her Social Security card [which only listed her middle initial]. She had to get her Social Security card changed, then make a return trip.
Joseph Carre came to make an address change after moving from Coconut Creek to Sunrise. His license wasn't set to expire until 2014. He didn't have any of the required documents and was turned away.
"This is a valid license! It's not good enough for a change of address?" he asked a DMV worker screening the outside line.
"No, sir," said the worker. "Not according to the Department of Homeland Security."
Sendles, the Brit, recalled how different things were when he first arrived in Fort Lauderdale as a yacht captain in 1997.
"First thing we did was come get our driver's license, then we got a temporary Social Security number so we could open a bank account," he said. "It's definitely not as free a society as it was."
Getting tough on illegal immigrants might sound good. But as anybody who's been to the DMV lately can tell you: We're all getting snared in the resulting bureaucratic web.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-immigration-mayocol-b050810-20100507,0,7610189,print.column
