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A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 9 april 2019
'Necessity': Those in U.S. illegally push for license to drive

By CLAUDIA TORRENS and have a system in our coun-
MICHAEL HILL try. And it's there for a rea-
Associated Press son. And so just follow the
ALBION, N.Y. (AP) — Dairy system and be here legally,
farm worker Luis Jiménez and that's the answer to all
gambles every time he of it."
drives without a license. Advocates say the bill will
Even a minor traffic stop help the state, as well as
could alert immigration immigrants, thanks in part
agents that he is in the to additional revenue from
country illegally and lead car registrations and sales
to deportation. taxes. As immigrants regis-
But in the wide open spac- ter cars, they will buy insur-
es of upstate New York's ance. They also point to
farm country, supermar- a study that found states
kets and job sites are often with license laws average
too far away for walking, lower traffic fatality rates,
there's not always some- presumably because the
body around to give you immigrant drivers have
a ride, and catching a city passed state-administered
bus or subway just isn't an driving exams.
option. "Not only does it protect the
"Necessity forces us to undocumented immigrant
take a risk," Jiménez said in farmer who is harvesting
Spanish as he drove home our products, our agricul-
recently. "We have to work, tural products, but it pro-
we have to buy food. tects society as a whole,"
Sometimes we get sick and In this Wednesday, March 20, 2019 photo, Ismael Castellanos feeds calves on the dairy farm said sponsoring state Sen.
workers like me can't drive where he works, in Bethany, New York. Luis Sepulveda, a Bronx
to a hospital, can't buy Associated Press Democrat.
medicine. But I feel I need Beltran said he faced pos-
to take the risk so that my could alleviate the con- gressive enforcement by between $30 and $40 per sible deportation after be-
kids and my family can stant fear workers like him federal immigration agents trip. ing stopped for speeding
have a better life." live under. under the Trump admin- "You have to call the per- in 2014 as he was driving
In New York and elsewhere, "We don't feel safe," Beltran istration. Bolstering those son and ask which after- to buy bronchitis medicine
the idea of extending new said. "If you are in a vehicle fears is the impending de- noon he has off so he can for one of his daughters.
privileges to those without and you see a cop, you parture, announced over drive you, so you do gro- The local police notified
legal immigration status know any time he can turn the weekend, of Homeland cery shopping that day," Immigration and Customs
has been resisted. But a his lights on. And you end Security Secretary Kirstjen Castellanos said in Spanish. Enforcement, which said it
renewed push across the up arrested; you end up in Nielsen , who had been Castellanos, Beltran and Ji- administratively halted his
country to allow them to Mexico." viewed as resistant to some ménez spoke to The Associ- immigration proceedings
get driver's licenses reso- Immigrants and their advo- of the harshest immigration ated Press on the condition in 2016 on humanitarian
nates strongly among cates have already gotten measures supported by that names of the farms grounds.
those who make their living access to such licenses in Trump and his aides. where they work are not Then in 2017, local police
in the rural crop fields, dairy a dozen states including Advocates say police disclosed. They are part of stopped him for driving the
farms and fruit orchards California, Colorado and would still be able to view a group called Alianza Ag- wrong way down a one-
where the need for every- Illinois, some of them ac- drivers' past infractions, but ricola, which is lobbying for way street, according to
day transportation can be cepting state tax returns as they say immigrants pro- the license law in New York. federal officials. Beltran said
the greatest. identification. They are now ducing a valid license will It's unclear whether at- he was driving to a gas sta-
Apple orchard worker Ela- targeting roughly a half- be less likely to face further titudes have changed tion in an unfamiliar town.
dio Beltran, who is facing dozen states where they questions and contact with much in New York since Police called Customs and
deportation after a traf- see a friendlier political federal agents. 2007, when then-Gov. Eliot Border Patrol officers, who
fic stop, says licenses also landscape this year. They In New York, farmworkers Spitzer attempted to adopt arrested Beltran because
include Wisconsin and New make up only about 10,000 such a license measure of his reentry after a 2008
Jersey, where Democratic of the estimated 265,000 but was forced to back off deportation. His immigra-
governors succeeded Re- immigrants without legal amid withering political op- tion case was reopened,
publicans, and New York, documents expected to position. A poll from Siena leading to a hearing in Buf-
where Democrats now are get driver's licenses, ac- College last month found falo next month.
in total control of the Legis- cording to the Fiscal Policy New York residents still op- The 32-year-old father of
lature. Institute. But they might get posing the idea by almost four continues to work, but
"Now there's a new ur- the most use out of licenses. 2 to 1. the hearing is on his mind.
gency to really try to get Ismael Castellanos is driven State Sen. Daphne Jordan On a recent cool spring
this done, and there is new a mile daily from the home argues the law would lead morning, he trimmed a
political opportunity," said he shares with four other to voter fraud, bank fraud neat row of apple trees,
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, immigrant workers to the and identity theft. The Al- knowing he might not see
executive director of Vo- dairy farm where he cares bany-area Republican said them bear fruit. "I am work-
ces de la Frontera, an im- for calves. Trips for a carton an online petition she start- ing today but days go by
migrant advocacy group of milk or a dozen eggs can ed found similarly strong fast. Will I go back to my
based in Milwaukee. be more problematic, and opposition. family after entering immi-
The laws could give state- pricey. The nearest grocery "If they want to stay here, gration court?" he said. "If
level protection to immi- store is 8 miles away, and then they should become I get deported, when will I
grants who fear more ag- he pays people with cars citizens," Jordan said. "We see them again?"q