Free Republic

Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV Drop in numbers seeking drivers licenses pegged to new state law By Steve LawThe Portland Tribune, Aug 6, 2008 Christopher Onstott, Tribune File Photo / Portland Tribune With a passport and Brazilian drivers license in hand, Roberual Goncalues De Silva waits his turn in 2006 to apply for an Oregon drivers license at the popular DMV office at SE Powell Boulevard and 90th. A new state law requires Oregon drivers license applicants to prove they are in the state legally. The number of Spanish-speaking people taking Oregon’s driving test plummeted in February, just...

Member of the Texas Sunset Commission today recommended 'radical' changes in the administration of the Texas Department of Transportation, including placing the troubled and controversial agency into a four year legislative 'receivership' and abolishing the Texas Transportation Commission, which runs TexDOT, and appointment of a Transportation Commissioner who would be answerable to the Legislature, 1200 WOAI news reports. But Sunset Commission member Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon (D-San Antonio) suggested going one step further. "What I am hearing form the public is that they are wanting to see an elected commissioner," she said to loud applause from the TexDOT opponents who...

ALBEMARLE, N.C. -- A Mount Pleasant woman who works for the Albemarle Department of Motor Vehicles is charged with attempting to defraud the government by issuing identification cards to illegal immigrants.Authorities said between January 2007 and June 2008, license examiner Susan Honeycutt, 50, issued about 150 IDs to illegal immigrants using addresses that don’t exist and other fraudulent information.Federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents set up surveillance at the DMV two weeks ago. They said surveillance tape caught Honeycutt giving driver’s licenses to two illegal immigrants.Two men, Vijendra Gangadeen and Richie Seupersad, are accused of conspiring with Honeycutt. According to...

First Florida, now South Carolina. Legislators talk about "I Believe" tags.A South Carolina House subcommittee is discussing a bill that would create a new license plate for Christians. It would have a cross with the words "I believe" on the tag. The same tag stirred quite a controversy in Florida legislature. If such a license plate is approved, it would be the first to feature a religious symbol. Opponents say it violates separation of church and state, and makes it seem as if the state encourages a particular religion. Supporters say not allowing the plate is a violation of free...

LEESBURG, Va. A 28-year-old woman crashed into the Department of Motor Vehicles during a driving test Saturday morning in Leesburg. Nita Sureka of Ashburn was attempting to park a 2000 Volkswagon at 9:35 a.m. when she accidentally accelerated into the side of the building while attempting to park. The building at 945 Edwards Ferry Rd. sustained damage and was closed for the reminder of the day. There were no injuries inside the building and a passenger in the vehicle was treated for minor injuries on the scene. -snip-

Still in Control Pervez Musharraf was calm, confident and—despite a flurry of rumors—not about to announce his resignation. Instead, the Pakistani president's "concession" to his troubled nation was an announcement that he would allow Britain's Scotland Yard to help local law enforcement agencies with their investigation into last week's assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Speaking in a nationally televised address two hours after Pakistan's election commission announced the postponement of the ballot to Feb. 18, six weeks later than had been scheduled, Musharraf was notably deferential in his remarks about Bhutto, often invoking her "martyrdom" and extolling...

The Georgetown Park Mall's Department of Motor Vehicles service center was closed Wednesday after FBI agents conducted a raid there. D.C. Police officers along with FBI and ICE agents arrested a female employee for selling driver's licenses. The DMV's own integrity officer said eight months ago, he was investigating for a law enforcement agency when he learned about the incident and alerted the authorities. The D.C. inspector general's office took over from there, alerting the FBI and other law enforcement authorities. Agents also arrested four addition suspects. All five suspects will appear in U.S. District Court Thursday. Three years ago,...

HILLSBORO, Ore. - A college student from Washington County could be deported after trying to renew her driver's license at a local DMV. Alejandra Trujillo, 20, went to the Tanasbourne DMV office on Friday.     When a DMV worker asked her for identification, authorities say she handed over a fake Social Security card. The DMV worker called police  and they arrested Trujillo. Lt. Mike Rouches of the Hillsboro Police department said "at that point he [the officer] had probable cause to arrest her for the crime of criminal possession of a forged instrument." Wednesday evening, supporters of Trujillo picketed outside...

Ousted unceremoniously by Arnold Schwarzenegger on the triumphant governor's first day in office, the former head of the Department of Motor Vehicles has waged a four-year campaign against his former employer. His mission: to collect unemployment benefits. It's not that Steven Gourley needs the $5,000 he believes he has coming for six weeks when he was out of work. He's now a lawyer in private practice who figures he's spent more than $5,000 just on filing fees in his unemployment case. Rather, Gourley is trying to make a point. The point involves rather arcane arguments about procedural matters at the...

A driver's license bureau employee who earned roughly $24,000 a year made thousands on the side illegally selling licenses to Brazilian immigrants, state authorities said. Cammie Gray Andres, 46, a driver's license bureau employee since 2000, illegally charged at least five undocumented Brazilians between $2,500 and $3,000 for driver's licenses, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Using bogus Social Security numbers, Andres falsely issued them under a program designed to exchange licenses for valid ones from U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. She faces multiple counts of unlawfully issuing driver's licenses, official misconduct and unlawful...

1. "It's our pleasure to confuse you." It seems like everyone's got a DMV horror story. For Mike Hume, a sports journalist, it came after a move from Connecticut to Virginia, when he headed to the DMV to transfer his out-of-state license. It took four visits and roughly three hours of standing in line to get it. The problem? Everything from not bringing enough or the right forms of ID to having his records confused with those of another driver of the same name. After an estimated 20 hours of DMV-related work over the course of a week, Hume finally...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon driver’s license workers have begun reporting applicants with suspicious documents to the police, rather than just turning them away. The intent is to deter people looking for fake identification papers from shopping among driver’s license offices in search of a lax employee. The new policy has resulted in some arrests, convictions and dropped charges...

Workers at Oregon's Driver and Motor Vehicle Services have turned in nearly 200 people to police for suspicious documentation, an effort that overwhelmingly singled out Latinos. This summer, the DMV changed a long-standing policy: Rather than simply refuse service to customers suspected of presenting phony or altered documents to obtain licenses or identification, employees began to alert police. From June through August, 140 people were turned in to police -- roughly 94 percent of them with Latino names, according to DMV records obtained by The Oregonian. Oregon State Police and police agencies in Portland, Beaverton and Albany recieved the most...

Taxation Without Representation Tags In support of the district's quest for full representation in the U.S. Congress, the DMV encourages DC residents to display the Taxation Without Representation license plates. In fact, all newly issued license plates bear this message, unless you request otherwise (see below). If you'd like to exchange your old license plates for the new Taxation Without Representation tags, it will cost you a lot less than organizational plates―there is only a one-time, $10 exchange fee. You can swap out your old tags for these tags at the 301 C St., NW DMV service location. Bring the...

September 22, 2007 -- ALBANY - Gov. Spitzer announced yesterday that illegal immigrants will get driver's licenses - but at a cost to legal citizens because they'll now be useless as airport ID. Spitzer said the state would no longer require a Social Security number or proof that a person is not eligible for such a number in order to qualify for a driver's license. That change clashes with the 2005 REAL ID law passed by Congress that states require, among other things, a Social Security number in order to get a license. States have until December 2009 to be...

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is preparing to announce a new policy that will enable illegal aliens to obtain a driver's license. The state's Department of Motor Vehicles no longer will require applicants to provide Social Security numbers or proof they're eligible for Social Security cards, the New York Post and New York Sun reported. Under the new rules, valid foreign passports, previous state driver's licenses and other verifiable proofs of ID will be considered on a point-based system, according to a source who spoke to the Post. "The DMV does not believe it's in the business checking a person's...

DMV probe keeps bikers off road Orange County kit bike owners aren't sure when they'll be able to ride or sell hand-built vehicles. Friday, June 22, 2007 BRIAN JOSEPH SACRAMENTO -- Dain Gingerelli says he locked up a sure sale of his motorcycle in April – about $10,000 for a kit bike he built himself. But two months later, the bike is gathering dust in his garage and the cash is in someone else's pocket. What happened? The state Department of Motor Vehicles, Gingerelli said, blocked the sale. It turns out Gingerelli used a kit made by Custom Chrome Inc....

RICHMOND -- The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles said yesterday it is ordering two men to get their license photos retaken -- this time without the red-painted skin, spray-on hair and fake teeth -- or lose their driving privileges. Will Carsola and Dave Stewart posted Internet videos of their pranks, which included scenes of Mr. Carsola spray-painting his face and neck bright red and Mr. Stewart painting the top of his head black and sticking a row of fake buckteeth in his mouth in an Asian caricature. They each enter the DMV office and return with real licenses with photos...

Sabrina Escobar Scheduled For Arraignment Tuesday SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A woman who works at a Sacramento-area Department of Motor Vehicles office is due in court on Tuesday for arraignment on charges she sold driver's licences to people who should not have had them. DMV officials said Sabrina Escobar, 29, had been working as a license examiner in Carmichael for two years, and that over the past four months they began noticing that things were not adding up at Escobar's window, such as people taking the test too quickly. "In some cases, it looks like she was able to skirt having...

SACRAMENTO — Since Oct. 1, the Department of Motor Vehicles has notified more than 180,000 car owners in California that it is moving to suspend their auto registration for not having insurance. Hundreds of thousands more suspension warnings are expected to go out in the months ahead as the state's latest effort to crack down on uninsured motorists moves into high gear. The suspension notices follow the department's first effort to systematically compare a computerized list of registered car owners with continually updated data sent by insurance companies every time a driver buys, renews or cancels a policy.

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- A worker at the Santa Ana Department of Motor Vehicles was arrested Thursday for her alleged role in an identity theft scheme that used applicant information to create fraudulent licenses, official said. Millicent Denise Peterson, 44, was taken into custody after she arrived for work at the DMV field office where her duties including reviewing and approving applications for driver licenses and identification cards, said Renee Focht, and inspector for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The approval procedure required her to verify the validity of the information submitted on the application by reviewing a valid photo...

DMV - Oregon accepts documents from foreigners but will not accept proof from out-of-state tribes It's easier for illegal immigrants to get a driver's license in Oregon than it is for Native Americans who show up at DMV counters with identification from out-of-state tribes. About half the states in the nation allow some form of tribal documentation to secure a driver's license or identification card. Some want federal proof, some require tribal proof and some will accept either. Of those 28 states, two -- Oregon and New York -- restrict that to documents from in-state tribes only, according to information...

A Maryland legislative committee is aiming to kill a proposal that would make it difficult for illegal aliens to obtain driver's licenses, saying its regulations for toughening documentation standards are discriminatory. The state Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) in July filed a plan that would not allow license applicants to use documents such as foreign school and baptismal records to prove their identity.

A spike in license fraud at Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration branch offices that serve immigrant and illegal alien license applicants has prompted state officials to seek emergency regulations to tighten licensing standards, an agency spokesman said yesterday. MVA spokesman Buel Young said overall license fraud at the agency has increased 253 percent, from 146 cases in 2003 to more than 515 last year.

One Case Turned Over To U.S. Attorney POSTED: 12:29 pm CDT August 12, 2006 MADISON, Wis. -- Two state transportation workers are in trouble Saturday morning for allegedly issuing dozens of fraudulent driver's licenses and state ID cards over several months.Authorities said the two workers, who were in separate offices, were arrested near the end of the week. One was turned over to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Dane County prosecutors are handling the other case.The workers are expected to be charged in the coming week.Gary Guenther, director of the DMV's field services bureau, said an investigation began after DMV officials...

Sacramento -- Starting in 2008, all 22 million licensed California drivers will be required to go in person to a DMV office and prove their identity and address with three different documents before getting a new, federally approved state license. The sheer size and scope of that task -- required by a federal law passed in the wake of Sept. 11 -- already has the state Department of Motor Vehicles worried about lines that would make current complaints about the agency's notoriously slow service seem trivial. The new identification cards will be required in order to fly on airplanes and...

The California Department of Motor Vehicles has launched a new system to sign up organ and tissue donors, hoping to significantly increase the state's pool of donations. Those applying for or renewing a driver's license or ID card can now register by checking "yes" at the organ and tissue donor option, officials said Monday. The decision has legal standing and is automatically transmitted to the state's donor registry, taking the decision about whether to donate out of a family's hands. "Now, for the first time, each and every one of the 23 million licensed California drivers will have an effective,...

NEW YORK -- New York's Department of Motor Vehicles can require immigrants to prove they are in this country legally before allowing them to have driver's licenses, a state appeals court ruled. The 5-0 ruling Thursday by the Appellate Division in Manhattan reversed a decision by Justice Karen S. Smith, who ordered the DMV last year to stop denying driver's licenses to immigrants who didn't have Social Security numbers or proof they were legal. In dismissing the illegal immigrants' complaint, the appeals court said Smith had erred in barring the identity procedures DMV Commissioner Raymond Martinez put in place and...

We used to fingerprint felons -- now, we're "inking" traffic scofflaws. Run a couple of mph over the speed limit in the state of Kansas (or even fail to "buckle up for safety") and you'll be duly entered into the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's electronic fingerprint database -- a privilege once reserved for actual criminals, not ordinary citizens who commit minor violations of the motor vehicle code. KBI, authorized by the state government, will be "testing out" 60 automated fingerprint readers throughout the state beginning this month -- all of it funded by a $3.6 million grant from the Department...

Since March, the average weekly number of driver's license applications by immigrants and illegal aliens has nearly doubled in Maryland, where legal residency is not required of applicants, according to the state Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA). The number of out-of-country license applications, or those for noncitizens, has surged from an average of 946 a week to 1,800 a week since March, MVA spokesman Buel Young said.

DMV agents look inside; Belman driver refuses to allow access, citing clients' privacy. Date published: 5/22/2006 Department of Motor Vehicles staff brought a search tactic reportedly used at Northern Virginian proms a little farther south Saturday night. As limousines pulled up to Colonial Forge High School's junior-senior prom, DMV agents asked to search the vehicles. Most drivers agreed to the searches, except for one. Prom-goers began arriving at the Fredericksburg Expo & Conference Center around 8 p.m. Once limousine drivers dropped off passengers, DMV enforcement agents asked to see chauffeur licenses and to search vehicles for alcohol and drugs. Most...

DMV officials say that when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took office 2 1/2 years ago, he quietly adopted the agency as a personal fix-it project. His command: Don't make people wait so long. The agency rearranged priorities and deferred maintenance. It hired 400 workers, making up for some of the 1,000 positions lost during the recession. ``The governor brought a new energy to our department,'' said Ken Miyao, the DMV's chief deputy director. ``It became a new DMV. . . . We're making people happy. Do you know how nice it is to have a reporter call and ask how well...

LONGMONT — A state effort to reconcile discrepancies between driver’s license information and Social Security information already has led to the cancellation of 2,000 Colorado licenses. Tens of thousands more Coloradans won’t be able to renew their licenses until they fix their records. Over the past two years and in batches, the DMV has run more than 4 million state licenses in its database against Social Security Administration data. In January, the DMV started the enforcement stage, sending multiple warning letters to 53,000 state residents...

LONGMONT — A state effort to reconcile discrepancies between driver’s license information and Social Security information already has led to the cancellation of 2,000 Colorado licenses. Tens of thousands more Coloradans won’t be able to renew their licenses until they fix their records. Over the past two years and in batches, the DMV has run more than 4 million state licenses in its database against Social Security Administration data. In January, the DMV started the enforcement stage, sending multiple warning letters to 53,000 state residents. While Department of Motor Vehicles and Department of Revenue officials maintain that the enforcement is...

(03-10) 16:24 PST OAKLAND -- A fifth employee of the state Department of Motor Vehicles in Oakland is facing federal charges of accepting bribes in exchange for providing driver's licenses and identification cards to illegal immigrants, according to court records unsealed today. The allegations are the latest in a scandal that saw DMV employees accepting bribes of as much as $4,500 per bogus document and issued more than 200 fraudulent drivers licenses and ID cards between November 2003 and June 2005. The latest suspect, DMV employee Marla Robinson, accepted bribes in June and July 2005 to process processed fraudulent driver's...

Hey, look what I found. Here is a website full of illegal aliens talking about how they can pass liberal laws, get amnesty, get licenses, and taxpayer tuition breaks! Can you believe that these illegal aliens are flagrantly organizing online to push their agenda? I'm going over there to set these people straight. Anyone want to join me? This is the web page: http://www.cosaonline.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2540 This is typical of what they are saying: "Democrats always have our backs. I used to identify with the Republican party, no more. Independent from now on, and I think we would of been better off...

See for example this thread first. Maryland might make your license plate read "DUI"--would be your fate if you've driven drunk. But--Darn it! That Skunk Ted Kennedy's in the wrong state!

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Two people died Saturday in an early morning crash on Interstate 485, and troopers say a wrong-way driver is to blame. The wreck happened near exit 67, close to Interstate 77, at about 12:30 a.m. The Highway Patrol said a Jeep driven by an 18-year-old man was on the westbound side of the highway going the wrong way when it slammed head-on into a silver Nissan Altima. That car flipped around and burst into flames, killing 23-year-old Eddel Rivera and 22-year-old Richard Bryant, both from Charlotte. The driver of the Jeep, whose name has not been released,...

Federal prosecutors and investigators in Dallas acknowledged in court documents that they mistakenly gave defense lawyers information about the inner-workings of secretive counterterrorism investigations. It took federal officials four months to discover that in April they had turned over secret court applications for wiretaps, which often have sensitive information from U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies, according to court papers that were unsealed this week. The materials were given to lawyers for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and seven of its senior officers, who have been indicted on charges they illegally funneled millions of dollars to support the...

NORFOLK -– Three Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles employees were arrested today on charges of selling phony driver’s licenses across the counter to “customers” for $2,000 each, authorities said Tuesday. Two facilitators were also charged. Sisters Teshara L. Sykes and Tonita S. Sykes and the third employee, Jamille C. Lowther, were arrested today at DMV offices in Norfolk. They were making their initial appearances this afternoon in federal court. The case unfolded when FBI agents in New York discovered a suspected illegal immigrant talking about his ability to obtain phony driver's licenses in Norfolk, according to court records unsealed today....

Years ago in his native Britain, Peter Jurgens drove a car with the license plate 13PJ -- a combination of his initials and the lowest number he could get. Jurgens, now a California resident, recently tried to recapture a piece of his early years behind the wheel and requested a personalized 13PJ California plate for his Lotus sports car. He was denied. "I told them I'd had this plate before. They said it was gang-related," said Jurgens, a San Luis Obispo car dealer who unsuccessfully tried to get the state Department of Motor Vehicles to change its mind. "I'd really...

Unless Gov. Robert Ehrlich is prepared to take a leadership role and fight for the integrity of state driver's licenses -- even if House Speaker Michael Busch, Senate President Mike Miller and the rest of the Democratic bloc object -- Maryland residents could be in for a rude awakening in 2008. That is the year they will learn that their driver's licenses are no longer valid for such purposes as boarding an airplane or entering federal installations like the U.S. Naval Academy.

Trust federal bureaucrats to take a good idea and transform it into a frightening proposal to track Americans wherever they drive.The U.S. Department of Transportation has been handing millions of dollars to state governments for GPS-tracking pilot projects designed to track vehicles wherever they go. So far, Washington state and Oregon have received fat federal checks to figure out how to levy these "mileage-based road user fees." Now electronic tracking and taxing may be coming to a DMV near you. The Office of Transportation Policy Studies, part of the Federal Highway Administration, is about to announce another round of grants...

Despite a policy that allows motorists to wear religious head coverings in their driver license photos, some Muslim women complain that workers at the state Motor Vehicle Commission continue to require them to either remove their head scarfs or pull them back so that a substantial amount of hair is showing. After several of the women complained, the motor vehicle agency wrote several letters of apology, and promised to redouble its efforts to make sure all its employees are familiar with guidelines on head coverings, and apply them equally to everyone. Sarah Elfayoumi went to have her photo taken at...

WHEN FEDERAL RULES changed in August to allow California owners of high-mileage low-emitting hybrid cars -- the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid and some Honda Insights -- to drive solo in high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, there was joy in hybrid land. That joy, alas, turned into outrage at how ugly the oversized puke-colored decals are. Ugly is the least of it. Here in the Bay Area, where hybrid car owners have to wend their way through two bureaucracies -- the DMV and FasTrak hell -- many hybrid owners are still waiting for the ugly puke-colored stickers. Assembly member Fran Pavley,...

Harvest of death on the Eastern Shore By BILL BURKE, The Virginian-Pilot © October 10, 2005 Last updated: 1:43 PM Rogue vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers have been responsible for a string of deadly accidents on the Eastern Shore. Two people were killed and two injured when this Ford Escort driven by a Hispanic farm worker ran a stop sign Oct. 1 in Accomack County. virginia state police photos ACCIDENT TIMELINE: The 13 fatal accidents involving Hispanic workers on the Eastern Shore since 2002 have killed 18 people. In all but two incidents, the car that caused the accident had...

I went to the DMV yesterday to renew my driver's license. I had an appointment and was pleasantly surprised. I got right in. But then things went down hill from there. LOL I had attended traffic school in May in order to have a citation I received in November removed from my record. And wouldn't you know. It had not been removed. I also found out that a citation from 2000 had not been removed either(went to traffic school for that one too LOL) I was "thumb printed" for the first time. Picture taken but was not given an eye...

Oakland -- Eight people, including four employees of the state Department of Motor Vehicles office in Oakland, have been charged in a scheme in which some of the DMV workers allegedly accepted thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for providing driver licenses, identification cards and registration stickers for cars that did not pass smog tests, authorities said today. Four of the defendants, including three DMV employees, appeared in U.S. District Court in Oakland this morning on charges that they accepted bribes to sell identification documents to non-U.S. citizens. All four were ordered to return to court Friday for further...

Bowing to pressure from immigration restrictionists in his Republican caucus, President Bush signed an emergency spending bill in May with an unrelated rider that denies driver's licenses to illegal aliens. But a funny thing has happened on the way to implementing the law, which effectively delegates border patrol and FBI duties to clerks at that model of speed and efficiency -- your local Department of Motor Vehicles. At a National Governors' Association meeting in Iowa last week, Democrats and Republicans alike denounced the measure, known as the Real ID Act, as impractical and vastly underfunded. Republican Mike Huckabee of Arkansas...

A Virginia man who worked as a manager at a Department of Motor Vehicles office at Springfield Mall and his wife, a former DMV clerk, were arrested yesterday by federal agents on charges of selling valid driver's licenses for as much as $3,500 each -- mostly to illegal aliens. U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty said Francisco J. Martinez, 57, and his wife, Miriam, 56, both of Stafford, Va., have been charged with conspiracy to commit identification fraud and conspiracy to produce Virginia driver's licenses by fraud, both felonies. If convicted, they could get 15 years in prison and fines totaling...