Publication Date: Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Board of Contributors: A movie driving home a message
Board of Contributors: A movie driving home a message
(January 05, 2005) by Jeffrey Blum
I saw a former mayor and current City Council member at a Blockbuster Video store the other night. -- the second or third time we have seen one another there. He joked that we have the same bad habits.
The councilman shows promise as a film critic. He was looking for a movie called "A Day without Mexicans." I hadn't heard of it. As I later learned from watching it, he accurately described it as a comedy that is also very thought provoking.
In the movie, all Mexicans in California suddenly disappear. The resulting havoc shows how important Mexicans are to California. For example, according to the movie, Mexicans cost the State approximately $3 billion in benefit payouts but they contribute $100 billion dollars to its economy. Twenty percent of the teachers in the state are Mexican.
What made this encounter with the councilman fortuitous is that I was thinking about writing about whether illegal immigrants should be allowed to obtain a driver's license. Watching the movie with his recommendation prodded me into action.
The United States and state legislatures are considering measures to restrict immigrants' access to driver's licenses. Numerous other states, including California, have passed laws allowing illegal immigrants to obtain a driver's license.
When former Governor Gray Davis signed California's version into law, some saw it as a blatant political move designed to curry favor with Hispanics to save his job immediately prior to the recall election. Governor Schwarzenegger has twice shot down this law, citing "security" reasons.
Some proposals for restricting immigrants' access to a driver's license go beyond denying undocumented immigrants access to drivers' licenses and are likely to affect legal immigrants and United States citizens. They are intended to increase national security, but the more likely result is that they will interfere with effective law enforcement.
This movement is an indirect attempt to develop a national identification card. Supporters urge uniform standards for driver's licenses across all 50 states. If implemented uniform driver's licenses will result in a de facto national ID card.
Many law enforcement officials oppose restrictive licensing proposals because driver's license databases are used in enforcement. Licensing non-citizens allows law enforcement authorities to obtain information on foreign nationals and reduces the likelihood that fraudulent documents will be created.
It also avoids requiring state motor vehicle administrators to evaluate an applicant's immigrant status and interpret complex and often changing immigration categories and classifications.
Restricting immigrants' access to driver's licenses will result in more unlicensed drivers operating vehicles on our roads. Removing illegal immigrants who must drive to work, school or elsewhere -- regardless of whether they have a license -- prevents administrators from testing and certifying their driving competence, deprives motor vehicle departments of their driving records, discourages illegal immigrants from registering their vehicles, and causes illegal immigrants to flee the scene of accidents.
Denying illegal immigrants driver's licenses also prevents them from obtaining vehicle insurance, contributing to uninsured-motorist losses and higher insurance rates.
Some legal experts question whether illegal immigrants can even be denied a driver's license. Maryland's attorney general issued an advisory opinion last year indicating the state's Motor Vehicle Administration may not deny a license because the individual is unable to prove lawful presence in this country.
Reviewing the legislation proposed since 9/11 -- intended to protect us -- I wonder whether we are guilty of going too far at times. The Patriot Act is one example.
Less publicized are changes in immigration law that compel many highly talented immigrants to attend colleges and universities in other countries. This brain drain is will have an adverse impact on our country.
An analogy might be that overeating-related obesity is a problem in the United States in part because food is so plentiful. Perhaps we are taking our immigrants too much for granted because there are so many of them and they have little political power.
I wish that "A Day Without Mexicans" received more publicity than it has. It is a lighthearted movie with an important message, and I thank the councilman for his tip to me worthy of Roger Ebert.
Jeffrey Blum is a Palo Alto resident, a family law attorney based in Redwood City and a member of the Palo Alto Human Relations Commission. He can be e-mailed at blumesq@aol.com.
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