More illegal immigrants driving without N.C. license

BENSON -- Luz Gonzalez used to take spur-of-the-moment trips to the beach. Now, she is afraid to drive to the doctor for checkups on her new pregnancy.

She and her husband, Ismael, can no longer have a savings account or a car registered in their names. Every time they drive to church, they watch for the flash of blue lights in the mirror.

The Gonzalezes, who identified themselves by only one of their two surnames, are among many illegal immigrants in North Carolina who are beginning a new life -- one without driver's licenses.

A 2006 state law made it impossible for illegal immigrants to renew their licenses. The change was talked about mostly as a tool to combat terrorism -- several of the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks had licenses -- but it has created a crisis in the Hispanic community and a potential hazard on the roads.

As licenses issued under the old rules expire, advocates and law enforcement authorities say many illegal immigrants, who number an estimated 300,000 in North Carolina, are now driving without licenses or insurance.

"They do not want to be driving without licenses, but it's coming to a point where they can't do things the right way," said Tony Asion, president of the Hispanic advocacy group El Pueblo. "Realistically, you're not going to ride a bicycle all around the state."

Without licenses, they are unable to register cars or get insurance, and they are not tested on their knowledge of North Carolina traffic laws. Hispanic advocates say the law makes the roads more dangerous and could drive up insurance rates. Insurance companies charge their customers a fee to cover accidents caused by uninsured drivers, and the fee increases when there are more uninsured drivers on the roads.

States that deny licenses to their large illegal immigrant populations, such as California, typically have high rates of uninsured driving. About a quarter of drivers in California have no insurance.

As the rules in North Carolina have tightened, sheriffs concerned about illegal immigration are setting up random license checkpoints and sometimes jailing immigrants for driving without licenses. Those who go to jail risk deportation.

The number of charges for driving without a license is rising, and the share of Hispanics charged is soaring, according to a News & Observer analysis of data from the Administrative Office of the Courts. Hispanics were charged more than any other ethnic group, including whites, even though Hispanics make up less than 7 percent of the state's population. In 2007, 44 percent of charges were against Hispanics, up from 35 percent in 2003.

Some sheriffs say they hope those hardships will prompt illegal residents to leave.

"It's about high time that the DMV make it more strict," said Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell. "We have bowed down. You go to DMV now and everything is Spanish, and people are tired of it. This is America."

Bizzell said he has a squad of deputies assigned to setting up license checkpoints and "wolfpacking," a term he uses to refer to sending marked cars to drive the streets of a small community. Most of those arrested without licenses are Mexican, he said.

"We're trying to make it a little more inconvenient for them," Bizzell said of illegal immigrants.

Sending a message

For years, North Carolina purposely made it easy for illegal immigrants to get licenses. The Division of Motor Vehicles accepted many forms of identification that illegal immigrants had access to, including identification cards issued by the Mexican government.

Immigrant advocates said the idea was to ensure that a surging immigrant population had insurance and understood driving laws.