Here is a real predicament for State’s that have a lot of illegal immigrants that have a need for American auto insurance:
In the past the Texas Department of Public Safety has renewed licenses of non-citizens without checking to see if their original visa had expired. Department officials say they do not know how many non-citizens with expired visas renewed their licenses over the past several years, but they stopped the practice in May.
Now, under a new regulation that took effect on the first of October the state has tightened its licensing policies even more by requiring that foreign nationals prove they are in the United States lawfully before they can get an original license or renew an existing license or get a duplicate license or ID card. This is all being done in the name of national security.
The Department of Public Safety released an estimate that the new rule could affect as many as two million Texas residents!
The new regulation means that non-citizens who have legal permission to live in the country will now get a different, vertical-shaped driver’s license having temporary visitor designations. These new licenses will only be valid until that person’s legal status expires.
Non-citizens whose legal status is scheduled to expire in less than six months cannot get a license or ID card at all.
Some state lawmakers and immigrant advocates are criticizing the new policy and warn that it will drive illegal immigrants deeper underground and that it will raise the number of unlicensed and uninsured drivers on the road. Critics also are concerned that the use of a different-looking license could lead to profiling and discrimination.
It is not known for sure how many illegal immigrants in Texas drive without a license or without liability insurance — which all drivers are required by law to have — but it’s presumed that the vast majority do not carry insurance.
Of the hundreds of auto insurance companies in Texas, “there may be a small number of companies that would sell insurance to a driver who does not have a valid driver’s license, but I am not familiar with any of those companies,” said Jerry Johns, President of an insurance trade association representing companies in Texas and Oklahoma.
Source: Juan Castillo, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
