Welcome to Seattle: Would You Like a Driver's License With That?

Welcome to Seattle: Would You Like a Driver's License With That?

Washington is currently one of the only three States in the U.S. which allows for immigrants to get a driver’s license.  The other two are New Mexico and Utah.  Because Washington does not require proof of citizenship or legal residency, the state is seeing an increase in the amount of licenses being distributed to undocumented immigrants.  But why?

In April of 2010, Arizona passed a “law, which proponents and critics alike said was the broadest and strictest immigration measure in generations, making the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally” – reports the New York Times.

In just the month of June, Washington granted licenses to over 50 percent of people than the whole of 2009.

Brian Zimmer, the president of the Coalition for a Secure Driver’s License in Washington, D.C. says that, “Washington state and New Mexico have been magnet states for the fraudulent document brokers, human traffickers and alien smugglers for years.”

- Tim Shepard

More Here:

Seattle Times: “AP Enterprise: More Immigrants Getting Licenses”

New York Times: “Arizona Enacts Stringent Law on Immigration”