Not legal? No Mexican driver's license for you
By Chris Hawley, USA TODAY
MEXICO CITY — The question of whether to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants has ignited a national debate in the United States.
Yet in Mexico, the biggest source of immigrants to the USA, there's no debate: If you're not in the country legally, you can't get a driver's license.
All of Mexico's 31 states, along with the federal district of Mexico City, require foreigners to present a valid visa if they want a driver's license, according to a survey of states by USA TODAY.
"When it comes to foreigners, we're a little more strict here," said Alejandro Ruíz, director of education at the Mexican Automobile Association.
The issue took the national spotlight after presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton said a move by the New York governor to give licenses to illegal immigrants "makes a lot of sense" during a debate.
Proponents said the plan would have made the roads safer by ensuring that drivers are trained and insured, but the ensuing public outcry forced Gov. Eliot Spitzer to abandon the effort this week. U.S. Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., filed a bill Wednesday that would bar states from any future attempts to give licenses to illegal immigrants.
Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington allow drivers to get licenses without proving they are legal residents, according to the National Immigration Law Center. Most other states require applicants to prove they are citizens or legal residents.
In Mexico, by contrast, the policy is similar across the country and often strictly enforced.
"The fact that all 31 states in Mexico would have such a common-sense position … shows to me a certain hypocrisy on the part of the Mexican government, because they are constantly criticizing those of us in Congress who want immigration laws to be tougher up here," King said.
Licensing offices in all of Mexico's 31 states, along with the Federal District, where Mexico City lies, said they require applicants to prove their citizenship, preferably by showing a voter registration card issued by the Federal Elections Institute.
(Foreign tourists who are in Mexico temporarily can drive using their foreign licenses, the states said. Most U.S. states have a similar exemption for visitors.)
Mexican officials said rules are strictly enforced, especially in southern states that have a problem with illegal immigrants from Central America.
"Last week a man came here (with a tourist visa) and said he was working as a deliveryman," said Denia Gurgua, manager of the drivers' license office in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital of Chiapas state. She said she denied him a license because he did not have a visa to work in Mexico.
"Our constitution has certain restrictions for foreigners," she said.
U.S. proponents of tougher restrictions worry that having a drivers' license helps legitimize illegal immigrants, making it harder to detect and remove them.
But immigrant advocates say the two countries don't compare. U.S. states are trying to protect other motorists from millions of illegal immigrants who are already driving, said Tyler Moran, an expert on drivers' licenses at the National Immigration Law Center.
There are an estimated 11.5 million undocumented people living in the USA. Mexico's pool of foreign residents is much smaller — about 500,000 people in a country of 105 million, census figures show.
"It may be a bit like comparing apples and oranges," Moran said. U.S. states "are dealing in reality, and it's better public policy to have people actually have licenses, have identification, have insurance."
