The California Union of Safety Employees has announced it plans to sue the state if the legislators and Gov. Gray Davis approve Senate Bill 60, which awards drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens.
As one of the state’s largest public safety and law enforcement groups, CAUSE is attempting to protect millions of Californians from identity theft and the potential for terrorism, they say.
“I find it incredible that after Sept. 11 when we had thousands of Americans murdered that any legislator would advocate for such a bill,” said Alan Wayne Barcelona, president of CAUSE. “Don’t they realize that drivers’ licenses are used to gain employment with our schools as bus drivers, teachers, janitors and in security-sensitive jobs at nuclear facilities and in law enforcement? This is more than just a state issue, it’s a national public safety issue.”
In what CAUSE officials call a “well-meaning attempt to extend driving privileges to immigrants long enough for them to work and become citizens,” SB 60 originally contained no safeguards against illicit use of drivers’ licenses.
The bill’s supporters later added money for a biometrics system but prohibited cross-referencing information obtained from a thumb or fingerprint with such information as a person’s name, photo and license number.
“Under a California Supreme Court decision, the DMV has the right to collect and compare fingerprints for the purpose of preventing fraud,” Barcelona said. “If the Attorney General won’t do it for his client, the DMV, then CAUSE and its legal counsel will sue to have these rights sustained should SB 60 pass in its current form.”
In addition to the potential of terrorists easily obtaining a California drivers’ license, SB 60 severely handicaps efforts by the DMV for cracking down on the growing crime of identity theft, CAUSE officials contend.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 4, 2003. Read the original PDF.