Confusion surrounds new driving certificates for immigrants

But instead of clarifying the situation before the certificates become available July 1, its seems that officials from other states, private companies and even law enforcement agencies in Tennessee are not certain how to treat the documents.

The certificate can’t be used for official identification, and will be marked “NOT VALID FOR I.D.”

Drew Kim, policy chief for Gov. Phil Bredesen, said the state will advise others not to regard the certificate as an official identity document. One immigrant advocacy group contends the state lacks the authority to do that.

“There’s a question about Tennessee’s ability to tell other states, other police departments, private businesses, and even the federal government what they can or cannot accept as an identification,” said Tyler Moran, policy analyst with the National Immigration Law Center.

“The result is going to be massive inconsistencies in how this document is interpreted across the country and even within the state of Tennessee.”

When lawmakers approved legislation for the certificates last month, the bill was touted by Bredesen as the “strictest driver’s license policy in the nation.” Several lawmakers had attempted for more than three years to change a law altered in early 2001 to allow illegal immigrants to obtain licenses.

State officials believed Tennessee had developed a reputation throughout the nation as a haven for non-citizens who could not get licenses in other states.

The state is making a list of groups it will send a mock-up of the new certificate to later this month, along with an explanation of what it means, Kim said.

Auto insurance companies said their underwriters were examining the law to see if they would accept the certificates.

One of the purposes of the law was to keep certificate bearers from doing such things as boarding an airplane, buying a gun or renting a vehicle. Southwest Airlines said it would not accept the driving certificate as identification, while other airlines said this week they were not aware of the new law.

Dozens of Tennessee police chiefs are asking their legal departments to review the law and how it affects their policies regarding routine requests to see legal ID, said Maggi McLean Duncan, director of the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police.

Law enforcement officials in some Tennessee border states said they did not know about the law. Arkansas officials had heard of the document but have not decided how they will deal with it.

“They would be allowed to drive, but they might be arrested for being here illegally,” said Mike Munns, administrator of the Office of Motor Vehicles in Arkansas.

The individual decisions of insurance companies and law enforcement concerns immigrant advocates like David Lubell of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.

“That’s going to prevent them from getting this document, and then they’re not going to know the rules of the road … or get insurance,” he said.

Lubell’s organization set up a hot line for immigrant complaints, which had logged about 80 calls by last week.

Certificates for those who cannot prove they are in the country legally will be good for just one year. Others would receive one valid for as long as they are legally in the state.

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Information from: The Tennessean, http://www.tennessean.com