{"id":2894,"date":"2014-08-26T15:30:14","date_gmt":"2014-08-26T22:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/?p=2894"},"modified":"2014-08-26T15:30:14","modified_gmt":"2014-08-26T22:30:14","slug":"connecticut-hoping-to-grant-undocumented-immigrants-a-drivers-license","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/connecticut-hoping-to-grant-undocumented-immigrants-a-drivers-license\/","title":{"rendered":"Undocumented Immigrants Granted Connecticut Driver\u2019s License"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connecticut is home to an estimated 125,000 illegal or undocumented immigrants. These disenfranchised people hail from Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Honduras, Colombia, and more, and right now, they\u2019re unable to drive legally in this country. Most of them drive illegally, without the documents and car insurance that make the road a safe and fair place.<\/p>\n

Silva Masson, a former resident of Peru, is one of these people. She has two children, both United States citizens<\/a>, but due to her immigration status she\u2019s forced to drive them to school, to drive herself to work, illegally. In the eyes of the beautiful riverside town of Norwich, Connecticut, she\u2019s a star citizen making ends meet in unfortunate circumstances, and thanks to a recently-passed bill, she can soon stop driving illegally and become a licensed driver.<\/p>\n

Last year, a bill was passed that will allow Silva and other immigrants to obtain a legal driver\u2019s license from the state of Connecticut, and next year, that law will take effect. Masson hopes to be one of the first to receive her driver\u2019s license for undocumented immigrants, and many others are sure to follow after a series of enlightening seminars held on the subject.
\nThe seminars in question, titled \u201cThe Road to Your Driver\u2019s License\u201d, are based around a Spanish-language PowerPoint outlining the process and defining what materials will be needed and what tests an applicant must pass. These requirements include\u2026<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Presentation of a passport, consular identification documents, or other form of identification.
\n–\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Supplementary identification.
\n–\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Proof of current United States residency.
\n–\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Passing both the written and driving tests required.<\/p>\n

Car insurance<\/a> will still be a requirement, of course. This license will simply enable people to provide proof of their legal privilege to drive. These specially appointed driver\u2019s licenses for illegal immigrants won\u2019t be the exact same as a card obtained by proving citizenship. In fact, their usefulness is limited to driving \u2013 the card given to immigrants will not be a valid form of identification, similar to Utah\u2019s \u201cdriving privilege cards\u201d, one of the earliest forms of this policy.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, fear is a powerful factor, emphasized by the political tension surrounding immigration to the United States. Despite the impending legality of driving as an illegal immigrant, many will remain without a license for fear of being discovered, jailed, or deported.<\/p>\n

This newly passed law is a step in the right direction, but fear may prevent many immigrants from taking that step forward, despite several laws forbidding law enforcement officials from detaining or persecuting illegal immigrants without suspicion of another crime being committed. Undocumented residents can still be fined for lack of license or insurance, however, meaning that those who avoid the DMV may be putting themselves at risk.<\/p>\n

Problems like these are why the seminars were originally created. Through education, advocates of this new policy can spread awareness and help undocumented immigrants exercise their options and prove their competence on the road. After this law takes effect, Connecticut will be the latest of many states to introduce such a bill, including Vermont, Maryland, Illinois, New Mexico, Colorado, California, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Connecticut is home to an estimated 125,000 illegal or undocumented immigrants. These disenfranchised people hail from Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Honduras, Colombia, and more, and right now, they\u2019re unable to drive legally in this country. Most of them drive illegally, without the documents and car insurance that make the road a safe and fair place. Silva […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[257,263],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2894"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}