Re: Driver Licenses

[Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com>]

At 01:49 AM 2/10/98 -0600, you wrote:
>On Mon, 9 Feb 1998, Bill Stewart wrote:
>: 
>: Yup.  It's really annoying to have to give the California DMV lots of
>: personal information about myself so they can track down deadbeat dads,
>: given that I'm not even a dad, much less a deadbeat dad, and so they
>: can track down Mexicans who want to drive without citizenship papers,
>: and similar presumptions of potential guilt.
>
>You're not required to be a citizen. You're not even required to be a
>permanent resident. All you need is to be here legally for any length of
>time. Some places won't check. Some require SSN cards, which can only be
>issued to ppl who are here legally, regardless of work authorization
>(since we all know SSN go way beyond original purpose ;)

CA has occasionally demanded citizenship papers to get a driver's license,
because a few politicians want to harass the large numbers of Mexicans who 
live here without papers.  They weren't demanding them when I got my
license 4 years ago, because they'd just been hassled in court,
and this time when I renewed the clerk said the main reason the state
mails licenses centrally instead of just printing them at the DMV
is so they can check all the data with the INS.

If you're driving a car here with Sonora plates and you've got a
Mexican license with a Sonora address, the CA cops can't bust you
for it, though they can ask stuff like what you're doing here.
But if you're parking the car on the street for more than 2 months
(it may be 1 month?) with Sonora plates, they can bust you for
not having California plates, even though you can't get them,
and for not having a California license, even though you can't get one.
Just as they can for still having Jersey plates on your car.
				Thanks! 
					Bill
Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com
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