Idaho Bill Would Allow Driving Licenses For Illegal Immigrants

Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Cecil Ingram held a public hearing last week for a bill that would grant driving privileges to illegal immigrants. Latinos from all over the state arrived to voice support for the bill, in which illegal immigrants could obtain an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number to qualify for a driver's license. Driving permits typically require Social Security numbers, which are available to legal immigrants and U.S. citizens. Idaho is the only state in the Northwest that requires a legal immigration status in its driver's license regulations.

Jessica Fry of the Idaho Community Action Network testified that the bill would make roads and communities safer by testing the driving skills of immigrants who are currently traveling without a license. Fry said there were no federal or state barriers preventing Idaho from enacting the legislation.

***

Lawmaker Seeks Citizenship For Border Tribe

U.S. Representative Raúl Grijalva introduced legislation last week that would grant citizenship to 8,000 Tohono O'odham Nation tribe members, who live on land that was artificially divided by the U.S.-Mexican border in 1854, when the United States purchased what became the southern portions of New Mexico and Arizona. Although the government has allowed tribe members in both countries to cross the border freely for decades, border security has tightened, making travel more difficult for tribal members who were born in the United States but cannot prove it. The Grijalva bill is identical to one introduced in 2001 by Rep Ed Pastor, a Phoenix Democrat who represented the Tohono O'odham Nation.

***

To view our legislative chart, visit www.visalaw.com/advocacy.html