Chicagoland

Undocumented immigrants to receive temporary licenses

By Catholic New World
Sunday, January 20, 2013

On Jan. 8, the Illinois House passed Senate Bill 957, paving the way for undocumented immigrants to apply for Temporary Visitor Driver’s Licenses.

House lawmakers approved the measure on a 65-46 vote. The Senate previously passed the legislation, which will now go to Gov. Pat Quinn for consideration. Quinn has said he will sign the bill into law.

Catholic Conference of Illinois Executive Director Robert Gilligan noted in a press release the legislation would provide an important safeguard for immigrant families. With no driver’s license to show police, when unlicensed, undocumented drivers are stopped for a minor traffic violation they are often sent to deportation centers.

“Too many of our immigrant families have been torn apart by the simple act of driving,” Gilligan said.

Immigration reform advocates gathered Jan. 12 at St. Gall Church for a Mass in thanksgiving for passage of the bill. See photos on Page 4.

Temporary Visitor Driver’s Licenses are currently issued to individuals with legal immigration status but no Social Security number. TVDLs can only be used for driving, and not for identification purposes. Immigrants would not be able to use a TVDL to buy a firearm, board an airplane or cast a vote in an election.

In order to get a TVDL, immigrants would have to provide proof of at least one year of Illinois residency. They would have to pay a fee, and pass vision, written and driving tests, in addition to purchasing auto insurance. The TVDL would be good for only three years.

“This legislation will give our immigrant brothers and sisters the training to safely get to church, work and school,” Gilligan said. “All families are safer when every driver is trained, tested, licensed and insured.”

Final passage of the legislation came during National Migration Week, celebrated by the Catholic Church to welcome newcomers and to push for comprehensive and compassionate federal immigration reform.

This passage is a longtime coming for advocates of immigration reform, including the archdiocese’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and Immigration Education, the Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants and the Priests for Justice for Immigration.

On Nov. 28, members of all those groups and others travelled to Springfield to ask legislators to allow undocumented immigrants to use temporary driver’s licenses in the state of Illinois.

“We need people driving safely,” said Notre Dame Sister Marilyn Medinger before the lobbying day. “We need them to be educated in our driving laws and to allow them to purchase insurance.”

Sister Marilyn, 74, was driving her seven-yearold Toyota Prius north on Sheridan Road at about 4:30 in the afternoon on Oct. 14, a Sunday. As she traveled through the 6700 block, headed toward Pratt Avenue, a car in the southbound lanes crossed the center line. She was injured in the crash and the other driver, an undocumented immigrant without a license or insurance, also was hospitalized.

Source: Catholic Conference of Illinois and Catholic New World archives

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