PRESERVE
THE PUBLIC SAFETY OF ALL TEXANS
December
__, 1999
Public
Safety Commission
c/o Director’s Office
Texas Department of Public Safety
P.O. Box 4087
Austin, TX 78773
Dear
Members of the Public Safety Commission:
On behalf of the XXX undersigned state and local
organizations representing the public safety concerns
of Texans, we urge you to improve the public safety
of Texas by revisiting Section 15.30 of the Texas
Administrative Code. The current Social
Security Number (SSN) requirement and proof of legal
status for individuals with a foreign birth
certificate prevents large numbers of individuals
from obtaining a Texas identification card and driver’s
license.
Everyone
Pays for Unlicensed Drivers
Texans are impacted when
drivers on Texas roads do not have a driver’s
license. The SSN requirement and proof of legal
status of foreign-born individuals directly
undermines the Department’s goal “to
maintain public safety in the State of Texas.”
For the majority of people living in Texas, driving
is the only means of transportation. Driving
and owning a vehicle is necessary to maintain a
stable job and to obtain needed services. For
this reason, most people who are prevented by the
current requirements from obtaining a drivers license
are unwillingly reduced to driving without a license,
thereby increasing the number of unlicensed drivers.
The inevitable result has been an increase in
untrained drivers and more uninsured drivers on Texas
roads.
Federal
Mandate Lifted
The
SSN requirement was imposed in Texas in 1997, after
Congress passed a provision requiring states to
collect, verify, and display social security numbers
on state issued driver’s licenses. But
this provision, Section 656 (b) of the Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act
of 1996, proved unpopular, due to citizen concerns
about public safety as well as the serious privacy
and civil rights implications of expanding the use of
social security numbers. Section 656(b)
drew fire from a broad spectrum of organizations,
such as the Eagle Forum, National Conference of State
Legislatures, the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU), and others, including Representatives from
Texas Dick Armey and Ron Paul. On October 1999,
President Clinton signed into law the Department of
Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act (H.R. 2084, P.L.106-69), which included a section
repealing the federal SSN requirement. We urge
the Texas Department of Public Safety to follow the
national lead and return to its pre-1997 rules.
Proof of Legal Status Unwarranted
Verifying the legal status of
foreign-born individuals is a complex determination.
Currently, the Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS) has 26 different documents that prove the
lawful presence of non-citizens in the U.S. For
all DPS offices to effectively comply with the
regulation, every single staff person would need
time-consuming, costly and continually updated
training to recognize and understand all 26 INS
documents. In addition, to comply with Title VI
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and avoid exposure to
litigation, every single individual applying for a
license would have to provide proof of citizenship
and status verification.
Requiring
proof of legal status should not be the undertaking
of the Department of Public Safety; such task should
be left solely to the INS.
INS
Backlog Impedes Securing Social Security Numbers
Due to the backlog of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, many legal
permanent residents (LPR), refugees, asylees and
other individuals, who are waiting for their
applications to be processed, cannot obtain a SSN and
consequently cannot apply for a driver’s
license. These individuals are future U.S.
citizens residing in Texas, thus we encourage the
Department to provide options for those who cannot
provide a SSN.
Temporary
Visitors Will Be Unable to Obtain a License
Until
now, individuals who were lawfully present in the
United States for a temporary period, such as
students and visitors, could obtain a “non-work”
SSN from the Social Security Administration if the
number was needed to obtain a driver’s license.
But that may be about to change. The Social
Security Administration has issued an advance notice
that it will change its policy on issuing social
security numbers to individuals with lawful status in
the United States, and will no longer issue a SSN for
the sole purpose of satisfying a state or local
statute or regulation that requires an individual to
provide a SSN in order to receive a benefit or
service. If this change is adopted, hundreds of
thousands of students and other visitors here in
Texas will be prevented from obtaining a driver’s
license unless the SSN requirement is eliminated.
Privacy
and Civil Rights Concerns
Section 15.30 raises a number
of privacy and civil rights concerns due to the
expanded use and dissemination of the SSN. Social
Security Numbers were initially intended for the sole
administration of Social Security and related
benefits. Over time, this usage has expanded to
the point where many people fear they will form the
basis for the eventual creation of a national
identity card. Such a national identity card is
anathema to many Americans who are aware of how
frequently they have been used as a tool of
repression by authoritarian states. Latinos are
particularly wary of imposition of a national ID card
because of the recent history of our state, in which
Latinos were often singled out and stopped on the
street by the authorities demanding to see documents.
The state of Texas should not participate in the
trend towards a national ID card, especially where
alternatives are available.
Recommendations
We recommend that the Texas
Department of Public Safety return to its pre-1997
requirements for obtaining a Texas identification
card and driver’s license. As established
pre-1997, an individual with a foreign-born birth
certificate should be able to obtain a Texas
identification card and apply for a driver’s
license. If a second form of identification is
required to verify the individual, then a credible
alternative could be a passport issued by the country
of origin (with or without a U.S. visa). The
objective should be to verify who the individual is
and not his/her immigration status. If the
driver’s license applicant does not have a SSN,
then considerable alternatives could be: a
taxpayer identification number; a letter from the
Social Security Administration stating that the
applicant is not eligible to obtain a SSN; a sworn
affidavit under penalty of perjury; or a foreign
passport (with or without a U.S. visa). Unreasonable
additional requirements that exclude large numbers of
Texas residents compromise the public safety of all
Texans.
We
urge you to repeal Section 15.30 of the Texas
Administrative Code, and consider reasonable
alternatives.
Sincerely,
List of supporting organizations by
alphabetical order
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