Driver's Licenses For Undocumented Immigrants: LASD Sheriff Lee Baca Agrees With LAPD Chief Charlie Beck

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Sheriff Lee Baca, and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich are coming forward in support of driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants.

The civic leaders threw in their two cents in support of LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, who said on Wednesday that "provisional" or "nonresident" licenses for undocumented drivers could increase safety on the road.

The mayor weighed in on Beck's comments and the ensuing controversy in an interview with KTLA the next day, noting that the LAPD chief has held the opinion for some time. Villaraigosa also said that former LAPD Chief Bill Bratton supported the idea when he served Los Angeles.

Villaraigosa threw himself into the mix of civic leaders in support of driver's licenses for the undocumented, saying that it was "a public safety issue. It's not an immigration issue." He also insisted that the licenses would not be used to obtain government benefits.

Watch KTLA's interview and read their story here.

In a Thursday interview with the Los Angeles Times, Sheriff Baca discussed his role in the failed 2002 task force to research special licenses for undocumented immigrants marked with "I" for "Immigrant."

"You can't do this en masse and make the average citizen happy," he said to the LA Times, although he conceded that if the issue experienced a "sensible" resurgence in Los Angeles, he would sign on as a supporter.

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich also offered his opinion, telling the LA Times that he supported Beck's comments because driver's licenses for the undocumented is "a matter of public safety."

As we noted in a previous news story on Beck's comments, a San Francisco Chronicle analysis of California statistics found that hit-and-run collisions accounted for 7.8 percent of traffic accident deaths in 2001 -- more than twice the national average, which was 3.8 percent at the time.

Reports from 2009 show that there were 15,611 hit-and-run collisions in California that left 20,260 injured and 185 dead, according to the California Highway Patrol [PDF].

Chief Beck reasoned that allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses would result in a decrease of uninsured drivers on the road, as well as erratic driving behavior -- two factors that lead to hit-and-run collisions. Listen to the Chief's statements in full on these LAPD blog podcasts.

Comments

[Candw1]

12:18 PM on 02/26/2012

Even if they get driver licenses they will not get insurance. And that is the real problem. Currently about 22% of drivers in California have no auto insurance. And with the illegal population growing in California it will only get higher.
People in California care more about enforcing the laws concerning where you can't smoke a cigarette than if there are over 1 million illegals in LA county alone. I'm not a smoker but folks that is absolutely insane.
California is not called the nanny state for nothing. They make a lot of laws...enforcing the laws they make is the part they can not or will not do, especially the one's concerning illegals.

[Steve Demerist]

10:42 AM on 02/26/2012

Villaraigosa is an idiot...but he is in office so apparently so are we.
it is not going to stop until we decide to make it happen.

[FTracy3]

10:30 PM on 02/25/2012

Of course people who are here illegally should have legal identification. Sarcasm aside, I don't blame them for coming, I blame the government for not enforcing the law.

[RobietheCat]

05:05 PM on 02/26/2012

The Mexican Nationals have legal ID, required in Mexico.

Mexico does not want their foreign nationals identified:

"Simply providing passports was not a viable option. The United States requires Mexican citizens to obtain a visa before entering the country, a nicety ignored by people who cross our borders without permission. Possession of a Mexican passport without a visa would only highlight their illegal status.

Another option could have been Mexico’s voter registration card, which is regarded as a secure identity document. It was revamped at great expense in the 1990s to stem endemic corruption in the Mexican electoral system. But that card, too, was a non-starter. It contains a fingerprint and, thus, would have been counter-productive to Mexico’s aim of avoiding deportation of its citizens. Anyone caught crossing the border without permission is fingerprinted and penalties rise for repeat offenders. Knowing this, Mexican illegals often use fake identities, not wanting to have their legal name in INS arrest files. But if fingerprints match, a false identity doesn’t cut it. Identity theft is a felony and subjects an offender to deportation."

link: http://www.cis.org/MatriculaConsular-IDCards

[moonlightesq]

09:35 PM on 02/25/2012

The mayor and police chief are overstepping and forgetting that they do not make laws, but need to enforce them. Reciprocity requires each state to acknowledge and accept drivers license as identification issued by other states while in their states and using their roads. E.g., there is nothing preventing an Arizona police from charging and take into custody an illegal alien with a CA drivers license which identifies he/she is here illegally.

[skraeling]

08:18 PM on 02/25/2012

I'd be ok with that, if we just got rid of the border.It doesn't really mean much anymore, anyway with NAFTA and all the other crap.We'd have more oil, new beaches and lots of cheap labor..a Republican dream....and, we'd save money by not building stupid fences like the Reds did, or have our military and other services wasting time and money.....a win win for all.

[spqr05]

12:40 PM on 02/25/2012

This will be perfect then they can travel on airlines too as they need a valid ID!! This way they can travel around the country with airlines and potentially vote. I know everyone says they have to look different but our leaders don't see that line. You give them an inch and they take a mile, this will be completely useless for the real people it's "supposed"to protect.

I really don't have any faith or belief in these "supposed" leaders. The good old mayor taking bribes and living the life of style on the tax payer dime; how can we trust him? Why is he still in office. If any citizen did this at their job they would have been fired but not politicians!!

Why the double standard? It's ok for Lindsey Lohan to break the law repeatedly and get a slap on the wrist. Regular citizens go to jail for stealing especially a felony. Why do we want another double standard for illegals when we the people follow the laws?

Isn't justice blind? Not any more the blind fold is off and if you're a celebrity, politician or illegal immigrant you get special treatment. This is what's wrong with the country, schools and everything else. We need accountability and a fair system.

[MHB48]

07:09 AM on 02/25/2012

"Bizzaro World"....!!!!!

[CITYTERRACE63]

12:49 AM on 02/25/2012

The only way this would work is if the state issued these licenses with a special number or design them to make them look different than licenses for legal citizens. Unlicensed drivers in California are a huge problem and that results in alot of hit and runs. Unless the federal government is going to deploy thousands of agents and troops to Los Angeles and start kicking in doors and dragging these people out of their homes and deporting them we might have to issue them licenses. Another alternative is a ballot proposition that forces police to impound the cars of illegals and never give them back or we can change the laws banning 3rd party registration agents and doing what New Jersey does. They make the insurance companies report to the state when a policy has been dropped and then the NJ DMV invalidates the registration of the car. We can also increase the penalties for driving without insurance. Make it a arrestable offense and then the illegal gets put into the system and tagged for deportation if in LA county because the jail system here participates in 287g.

[RobietheCat]

04:46 PM on 02/25/2012

Agreed.

[Lost Angeles]

08:42 PM on 02/24/2012

Time for new "leaders" .

[EastCstOlsenGrl]

07:21 PM on 02/24/2012

idiots.

[skraeling]

08:19 PM on 02/25/2012

So, what would you propose, genius...remembering there are over 12 million illegals here...

[econ1]

04:31 PM on 02/24/2012

I guess if we require law abiding citizens to have one, we could require illegal immigrants to have one..but would we actually enforce that law more than the other law. Would their be a penalty for breaking both laws or just one law....which one?

[Candw1]

06:58 PM on 02/26/2012

No they police will still let them go, just as they do now when they are involved in an accident....Brother what a world we now live in where only the law abiding citizen get punished.

[evil1164]

04:18 PM on 02/24/2012

Wow, both he and LAPD Chief Beck need to be terminated!! Is someone slipping something into their coffee and donuts out there? Fire them both!
Illegal is Illegal

[heikhali]

04:18 PM on 02/24/2012

Why are Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Sheriff Lee Baca, and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich are coming forward in support of driver's licenses for undocumented US immigrants when a Mexican driver's license is acceptable to drive with in the US?

[RobietheCat]

04:57 PM on 02/25/2012

The Mexican drivers' license is not a secure form of ID, and does not carry the same weight as their voter Reg card. In fact many in Mexico drive without any license.

This is an interesting summation of the problem:

"Simply providing passports was not a viable option. The United States requires Mexican citizens to obtain a visa before entering the country, a nicety ignored by people who cross our borders without permission. Possession of a Mexican passport without a visa would only highlight their illegal status.

Another option could have been Mexico’s voter registration card, which is regarded as a secure identity document. It was revamped at great expense in the 1990s to stem endemic corruption in the Mexican electoral system. But that card, too, was a non-starter. It contains a fingerprint and, thus, would have been counter-productive to Mexico’s aim of avoiding deportation of its citizens. Anyone caught crossing the border without permission is fingerprinted and penalties rise for repeat offenders. Knowing this, Mexican illegals often use fake identities, not wanting to have their legal name in INS arrest files. But if fingerprints match, a false identity doesn’t cut it. Identity theft is a felony and subjects an offender to deportation."

link: http://www.cis.org/MatriculaConsular-IDCards

- The illegal criminal aliens don't want to be ID'd and our officials are helping them.

[IndependentAndProud]

04:09 PM on 02/24/2012

So, if an illegal alien gets stopped for a traffic violation and shows his license, which identifies him as being in our country illegally, won't the cop take him into custody? I say the cop had better take him into custody.

[RobietheCat]

11:15 PM on 02/24/2012

Look up Special Order 40 for the LAPD.

[skraeling]

08:20 PM on 02/25/2012

too late now....you can thank Ronald Reagan for this mess...

[moonlightesq]

03:48 PM on 02/24/2012

I thought law enforcement is supposed to enforce the laws and not make up new ones???

Sure, have the drivers license identify the illegals, so when the administration changes down the road, it will make the job of ICE easier to identifying, find, and deport illegals - the license for illegals will even come with a colored picture and an address.

[evil1164]

04:19 PM on 02/24/2012

Sweet plan!