RALEIGH - Latino advocates say they'll start lobbying N.C. legislators for driver's licenses, in-state tuition and wage enforcement for those who are undocumented, likely heating up the illegal immigration debate.

It's the first time advocacy groups across the state have created one agenda, which was released Tuesday by El Pueblo, a Raleigh-based nonprofit.

The agency's top priority is to push for a special driver's license for illegal immigrants. Several states already use such an alternative.

After North Carolina started requiring a valid Social Security number or a valid visa to obtain a driver's license, many illegal immigrants chose to drive without one because they still have to work and take their children to school, said Zulayka Santiago, El Pueblo's executive director.

"When you have drivers on the roads not fully informed of our traffic laws, that puts all our communities in danger," she said.

El Pueblo also wants an increase in funding for the Wage and Hour Division of the N.C. Department of Labor and Occupational Safety and Health Administration so it can respond to complaints about immigrants not getting paid.

Many workers in Charlotte say they're waiting to receive anywhere from $300 to $2,000 for temporary jobs, said Raquel Lynch, programs director at the Latin American Coalition.

Ron Woodard, director of the immigration reform group N.C. Listen, questions such proposals. If you're in the country illegally, you're not supposed to have a job anyway, he said.

"We're treating possible illegals with kid gloves," he said.

El Pueblo's legislative priorities include:

• Lobby for creation of a special driver's license for illegal immigrants.

• Create a program to certify educated immigrants, using their foreign job credentials, so they can work in their field.

• Ensure all N.C. students have access to a higher education, including receiving in-state tuition.

• Enforce safe migrant farmworker conditions to prevent such things as pesticide poisonings.