Immigrant advocates urge DMV to broaden ID requirments

By Rommel Conclara, ABS-CBN North America Bureau

June 27, 2014

OAKLAND, Calif. – About 40 people gathered outside of the Caltrans – California Department of Transportation building in Oakland, Calif. to take part in the final scheduled public hearing concerning drivers licenses for immigrants.

They are asking for changes to identification requirements because they say documents are difficult to obtain.

Undocumented Filipino immigrants say they it will difficult to supply a required consular ID because the Philippine Consulate does not offer any.

While these Filipino American college students are here advocating for immigrants, they too are affected by this new law.

“I’m a non-immigrant and there was a point in my life where I wasn’t able to renew my [drivers] license because my visa expired and we were in the process of renewal,” said 20-year-old UC Berkeley student Johmer Polanes. “It did definitely affect how I functioned everyday because I didn’t get to drive to school everyday.”

“I know my family definitely went through the transition from the Philippines to the United States,” said 19-year-old UC Berkeley student Ciantelle Tienzo. “I’m sure that a lot of people have a harder time than most during this transition period so I feel it’s very important to stick to these movements because it helps the greater community.”

After the brief rally, they gathered into the auditorium where the DMV took comments from the public.

Much like the hearing in Los Angeles, the panel made it very clear that this venue was not for comments against the law.

“You’re in the wrong venue,” said DMV attorney Brian Soublet. “That ship has already sailed. We will not entertain or consider any comment about whether the department should implement provisions of AB60.”

Undocumented immigrants and their advocates voiced their gratitude for the opportunity to receive driver licenses while also sharing their concerns.

“Some of them may not have their documentations,” said one advocate for immigrants. “They are here by themselves in this country and are not able to get the documents from their own country to get them here or may have lost them along the way.”

“I’d like to echo with other concerns people have voiced today regarding the accessibility of these new licenses as well as concern about police profiling,” said another immigrant advocate.

This marks the last scheduled public hearing after four months of public input.

DMV officials say it will consider changing the regulations based on today’s comments before the law goes into effect January 1, 2015.

You can contact Rommel Conclara at rommel_conclara@abs-cbn.com for more information.