State Backs Off Crackdown at DMV
The state is scrapping a new regulation that made it harder for legal immigrants who are not U.S. citizens to obtain driver’s licenses.
Last month, the state Division of Motor Vehicles began requiring such immigrants to apply for licenses and state identification cards at four regional service centers that have computer links to the Immigration and Naturalization Service database.
Critics complained that only one of the centers is located where large concentrations of immigrants live.
Dana Sullivan, a DMV spokesman, said the new rule was being dropped because many of the applicants are well-established residents in this country. DMV clerks will still photocopy immigration documents provided by license applicants and check them against information in a federal database.
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