The Illinois legislature passed a law which will allow undocumented immigrants residing in the state to obtain driver’s licenses. With this move, Illinois joins three other states — New Mexico, Washington and Utah that allow undocumented immigrants to drive legally. Dan Weissmann reports.
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Dan Weissmann is a Chicago-based radio producer and multimedia reporter. His work has appeared regularly on WBEZ (Chicago Public Media, 91.5 FM) and can be found at www.danweissmann.com.
I resent your continued use of the term “undocumented immigrant.” An immigrant is someone who applies for temporary or permanent residence as did my Mexican daughter-in-law. She has legal documents certifying her stay and eventual application for citizenship. She did not sneak across a river, crawl through a tunnel or climb over a fence to be here. While I think that the Mexican government and their total lack of support for their lower classes is ultimately responsible for the grinding poverty I see on every trip back to Mexico City or Monterry, the fact is that the senora in today’s story is an illegal alien. Her getting a faux license will require me to add back on collision insurance to both my car’s policies because the Hartford and other companies will not represent an illegal alien in a case of an accident that escalates into a court case. If she t-bones me, my insurer has to pick up all my damage and injury costs for her negligence and they can’t subrogate to her for compensation because she won’t be able to be sued. Please stop using NPR’s PC terms, and look at the reality of a bad situation.