Cracks in State’s Tracking Plan Surface in O.C.

In the heat of last year’s state budget fights, it seemed like a great way to raise funds for the cash-starved treasury--go after residents who owe money for such things as unpaid court fines and child support.

And the best way to track down the delinquent debtors, legislators decided, was to require that a Social Security card be shown by everyone applying for or renewing a driver’s license, motor vehicle registration or state identification card.

But only six months into the program, the cracks in the plan are beginning to surface.

Illegal immigrants are being turned away from local Department of Motor Vehicle offices because they lack Social Security cards. Consequently, they turn to counterfeit documents, authorities say.

Beyond the basic law enforcement problem of having more unlicensed drivers, Orange County officials concede there is a potential for a greater problem down the road--the creation of an “invisible” population.

“We are going to find people dead in the streets without identification and we will have no way of knowing who they are,” said Jose Vargas, the Hispanic affairs officer for the Santa Ana Police Department.

Additionally, the plan has become a bureaucratic nightmare for the DMV, because it does not have the $20 million needed to phase in the program, which will eventually require checking and compiling Social Security numbers for a majority of California residents, an agency official said.

“We have 26 million vehicle owners and 20 million drivers,” DMV legislative liaison Bill Cather said. “That’s a tremendous number of (Social Security) documents to check and to record. We are dealing with a document we have never had to deal with before.”

Cather said the agency is still trying to figure out how to link up with Social Security records to verify the numbers without violating federal privacy laws.

Since January, the agency has been requiring Social Security cards from new driver’s license applicants only. The second cycle that was to begin last week--for new motor vehicle registrations--has been postponed for one year, Cather said. A date to begin collecting Social Security information from current residents has not been set, he said.

“It’s a fiasco in Illinois and it’s going to be a fiasco in the state of California,” said Nativo V. Lopez, who heads Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, an immigrant rights group. “It’s an inconvenience to the total population because of the fact that these (unlicensed) individuals will continue to drive, accidents will occur, they will not have insurance, insurance rates for everyone will go up, and the DMV will lose money.”

Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Dave Himelson said it will be “awhile” before the Family Support Division sees improved tracking of “delinquent dads” because the program is taking so long to implement. When fathers keep current on child support payments, he said, it helps keep families off the state’s welfare system.

“It’s a very good piece of legislation. It’s unfortunate that the funds to support (DMV) are not there,” Himelson said.

Other proponents of the new law said they are optimistic that the administrative problems can be worked out.

Legislative staffers estimated that there is about $3 billion in uncollected child support in the state and $500 million in delinquent court fines. At least half of the court fines are expected to be recovered under the new program.

The program’s goal to help lessen the state budget crisis outweighs the problems created for those who entered the country illegally, advocates said.

“For the purposes of undocumented immigrants who want to get a driver’s license, we should forgo $500 million a year? There’s trade-offs in everything,” said Alison Harvey, an aide to the bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg (D-Sacramento). “This state cannot afford to forgo that kind of money.”

But the frustration showed recently on the face of 29-year-old Martin Garcia as he left the DMV office in Santa Ana. He is a legal resident with a Social Security card and driver’s license. But he was hoping to get an identification card for his 27-year-old wife, Eva, who illegally entered the country with their four children two years ago.

“I need it in case something comes up with the children at school,” she said.

Her husband added: “If you do not have identification, you cannot cash your checks. When you are going to get an apartment or telephone, you need identification. It’s a real problem. If the police stop you and you do not have identification, you can get in trouble.”

In rare instances, the new law can also create problems for those born in the United States.

Anaheim police officer Brett Glissman said that last week, a parolee came up to the front counter complaining that he could not get a driver’s license, did not have a Social Security card and did not have access to his birth certificate.

“We sent him back to the prison he got out of eight years ago to see if they could help him,” Glissman said. “With immigrants, I have no idea how to help them.”

Local police officials said they cannot tell if there has been an increase in the number of tickets issued to unlicensed drivers, saying it has long been a problem in communities with large immigrant populations.

“They laugh at us,” Fullerton Police Lt. Dennis Bryerton said, adding that offenders usually do not show up for court dates.

Garden Grove Police Capt. Scott Jordan pointed to another rising problem.

“We have more accidents where the driver just runs from the car and leaves the car,” he said. “They go out and they buy these cars for $500 or $800 . . . they don’t register it and they just run.”

Santa Ana Police Lt. Bill Tegeler said he first heard complaints about the new DMV rule at community meetings held last spring to teach immigrants how to assimilate in the new culture and follow the laws.

“At least, if they were to have the license, we would have some identification on them,” Tegeler said.

Madeline Janis, who heads the Central American Refugee Center in Los Angeles, said the Social Security card requirement “makes absolutely no sense,” because it discourages those who want to follow the law from becoming licensed, encourages false documents, and ultimately will backfire on government agencies needing the information.

“You have a lot of law-abiding citizens, but you also have many who are not law-abiding, and why have all of them kept out of the system?” she said. “They will continue to live underground to an even greater extent.”

In recent weeks, raids by law enforcement officers in Orange, Huntington Beach and Santa Ana have cracked down on rings producing and selling phony Social Security cards, immigrant registration cards and driver’s licenses. But officials said they are aware that the problem is growing.

Police officer Vargas in Santa Ana said he had heard from victims of scams, including one man who paid someone $75 for a driver’s license but never received it; and another who lost money sending $12 to an unknown source for instructions on how to get a license.

Anaheim traffic investigator Robert DePaula related the following story about a recent auto hit-and-run case:

“I had a gentleman who was from Mexico, and he told me he tried to get (a driver’s license) but he couldn’t because he didn’t have a Social Security card, and he said he couldn’t get one because ‘the place on Main and 3rd (streets) in Santa Ana doesn’t sell them anymore.’ ”

One tipster told how easy it is for a legal resident to begin the application process and then have the illegal immigrant take his place at the next line just before the photograph is taken.

A man who would identify himself only as Antonio recently stood outside the DMV office and wondered how he could get a license. He entered the country illegally four years ago.

But he knew it would only be a temporary setback.

“The Mexican people are very stubborn, and they will find a way so that they don’t have to be on foot,” he said. “You need to drive to get to work, so you find a way to do it, one way or the other.”