According to the Santa Barbara Independent Media Center, there are approximately 2 million undocumented migrants driving without licenses in California. The pending Senate Bill 1160 would put an end to this in a fair and balanced way.
Senate Bill 1160 would grant undocumented migrants the right to driver licenses when they present a tax payer's identification number instead of a social security number. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stated he will only approve of SB 1160 if there is a distinguishing mark on the driver license card identifying the person as "illegal." But branding them in this way would only open them to harassment and unfair treatment during what should be a routine traffic stop.
It's true that the United States is a country based on a constitution and its laws, but it is also a country based on growth through migration, especially from Mexico.
In the early 20th century, migrant workers were needed in the booming railroad and agricultural fields. They were welcomed until the 1930s when the Great Depression hit, and migrants were used as scapegoats for the lack of jobs and repatriated to Mexico.
Then there was the Bracero Program, which began in 1942, and legally recruited Mexican men to work the fields and factories that had been abandoned by American men who went to fight in World War II.
The Bracero Program ended in 1964 and was followed by an increase in the enforcement of the Border Patrol and the militarization of the Mexico-United States - a process which seems to have no end.
More recently, the economic prosperity of the '90s might be correlated to the migration boom. The Federation for American Immigration Reform reports: "During the 1990s, the United States immigrant population experienced its largest increase ever - about 11.3 million people." It was also during the '90s when California became the fifth largest economy in the world, according to the state's Web site about commerce.
Undocumented workers are not stealing jobs, government funds or education opportunities from any citizen. Leaving their homes and loved ones gives undocumented migrants a different determination than others who have man-made laws on their sides. They have to struggle against rejection and being marginalized in a society who needs them as much as they need the work.
Giving undocumented workers the right to driver licenses would make the roads of California a lot safer. Because most migrants arrive in the United States with arduous plans to work and earn money, they actually can afford to buy cars. By having a license, they could register their cars under their names and pay for insurance and legally own something they worked hard for.
Some might ask, why don't migrants just apply to be citizens and wait for the process?
"Immigration laws don't apply to many of the migrants," according to Carmen Chavez of the Casa Cornelia Law Center of San Diego. They can't just apply for citizenship; it's not that easy. If deported, migrants return to their countries, many times with children who were born in the United States and are U.S. citizens.
Many undocumented migrants are young adults who were brought here as children and have never known another life but the one in America. According to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, California's Assembly Bill 540 gave migrant students the right to an affordable college education if they could prove they graduated from a California high school.
Indeed, many of these "illegal aliens" could be sitting next to you in class, thanks to AB 540. And, hopefully, if SB 1160 is passed, they will soon be legally driving next to you on our roads, too.
-Laura Limón is journalism sophomore and a Tempo staff writer.
-This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec. Send e-mail to letters@thedailyaztec.com. Anonymous letters will not be printed - include your full name, major and year in school.
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