{"id":7714,"date":"2014-09-23T16:58:55","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T20:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=7714"},"modified":"2018-12-28T14:43:21","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T19:43:21","slug":"illegal-aliens-seeking-drivers-licenses-overwhelm-colorado-dmv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2014\/09\/23\/illegal-aliens-seeking-drivers-licenses-overwhelm-colorado-dmv\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal Aliens Seeking Driver’s Licenses Overwhelm Colorado DMV"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ColoradoThe Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), which began granting driver\u2019s licenses to illegal aliens in August, is overwhelmed by the unexpected high turnout of illegal alien applicants. Officials claim the chaos is caused by the underestimation of the demand and the cost<\/a> of implementing the program by the Colorado Legislative Council staff. They now state it may take almost four years<\/a> to grant appointments for all those currently seeking the special license.\u00a0Employed as professional counsel for members of the state legislature, the Legislative Council staff<\/a> estimated the demand for the licenses based on data from the Pew Research Center and immigration data from neighbor states.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just didn\u2019t think demand was going to be this high,\u201d said Chris Ward<\/a>, fiscal note manager for the Colorado Legislative Council. \u201cWe were providing the best estimate we could when the legislature needed it. Ward also commented that the underestimation of demand \u201cwould definitely affect the funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The staff\u2019s underestimation, however, is not surprising given that states that grant driver\u2019s licenses to illegal aliens have traditionally experienced a high incidence of illegal aliens from other states applying for a license. For example, auditors in New Mexico revealed that after the state began granting driver\u2019s licenses to illegal aliens, many out-of-state residing aliens<\/a> began fraudulently applying for the ID. \u00a0Between August 2010 and April 2011, 37% of the 16,000 foreign national requests<\/a> driver\u2019s licenses came from out-of-state, most from Arizona, Georgia, and Texas.<\/p>\n

In addition to the backlog of illegal alien applicants, the DMV mistakenly awarded<\/a> over 500 illegal aliens valid licenses meant only for United States citizens or legal residents. Senate Bill 251<\/a>, the 2013 bill that created the illegal alien driver\u2019s license program, required illegal aliens to receive a special license, distinctive from those granted to citizens and legal aliens. Under S.B. 251, any license granted to an illegal alien must indicate on its face that the license may not be used for federal identification purposes, for voting, or to prove eligibility to receive public benefits. However, a glitch in the software used by the DMV resulted in the issuance of 523 valid driver\u2019s licenses that appeared “identical<\/a>”\u00a0to licenses granted to only citizens and lawfully present residents. The licenses were invalidated over a month after issuance.<\/p>\n

Because of the high potential for fraud, granting driver\u2019s licenses to illegal aliens without verifiable identification poses serious national security risks. Eighteen out of the nineteen<\/a> 9\/11 hijackers were in possession of at least one form of U.S. identification document. (9\/11 Commission Report) Among them, the hijackers possessed over 30 state driver\u2019s licenses from various states including Virginia, Florida, California, Arizona and Maryland. (Id.) These identity documents proved critical to the 9\/11 terrorists overall travel strategy that included fraud in every aspect of their travel.<\/p>\n

After the first month of implementation, almost half of the applicants<\/a> that applied for Colorado\u2019s illegal alien license have been rejected for failure to meet the documentation requirements or for failure to show up for their interview appointment. Senator Jessie Ulibarri, sponsor of S.B. 251, indicated that he is open to making changes to the law in the next legislative session, while officials from the Colorado Department of Revenue stated that they need more time to gather data before they can make requests for more funding.<\/p>\n

This post was originally published in FAIR’s Legislative Update on September 23, 2014<\/a>.