Free To Grow
Mailman School
of Public Health
Columbia University
722 West 168th Street,
8th Floor
New York, NY 10032
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Immigrant Access to Driver's Licenses
Environmental and Policy Change: Policy
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Since September 11, 2001, efforts to expand access to driver's licenses for immigrants have become increasingly difficult. There has been quite a bit of legislation, executive orders and regulatory changes that have imposed restrictions on immigrants' access to state-issued driver's licenses. These actions have significantly impacted the immigrant population nationally. Advocates in some states are seeking to remove restrictions such as Social Security number requirements (SSN), which prevent many immigrants from securing driver's licenses and automobile insurance. Some state campaigns have proposed that alternative identifiers, such as the Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN), could be used instead of an SSN. Other campaigns are seeking to expand the categories of immigrants that may be eligible for a driver's license, or to broaden the list of acceptable documents. Immigrant rights advocates are joining with law enforcement, religious organizations, labor, and businesses, to demonstrate the benefits of increasing access to driver's licenses, including improved highway safety, reduction of insurance costs, and fraud prevention.
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Evaluation
Restricting driver's licenses results in unsafe roads, high insurance rates, and overwhelmed court systems. Nationally, chances are approximately 14 in 100 that if an insured car occupant is injured in an accident, an uninsured motorist caused the accident.
(Adapted from information on the National Council of La Raza website, 2004, http://www.nclr.org/files/2608_file_DL_fact_sheet.pdf and used with the permission of The National Council of La Raza)
There are more than 40,000 traffic fatalities each year, and over 6.3 million motor-vehicle crashes, disproportionately caused by unlicensed drivers.
(Adapted from information on the National Council of La Raza website, 2004, http://www.nclr.org/files/1073_file_ImmigToolKit_FNL.pdfand used with the permission of The National Council of La Raza)
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