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[Previous entry: "Legalization for Mexicans unlikely"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "How Do I Apply for Health Care Worker Certification?"] 11/15/2003 Entry: "Calif. Immigrant Licenses Spur Lawsuit" A small Hispanic organization and a conservative legal group teamed up Monday to launch the latest attack on a law granting drivers' licenses to undocumented immigrants.
Calif. Immigrant Licenses Spur Lawsuit SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A small Hispanic organization and a conservative legal group teamed up Monday to launch the latest attack on a law granting drivers' licenses to undocumented immigrants. The groups filed a lawsuit in a state appeals court to block the law from going into effect in January. An attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation said the court challenge was the surer and speedier course to reverse the law signed by Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites) as he fought in vain to save his job during the recall election. Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) has said he will work to repeal the law, and a petition to overturn it is also in the works. The lawsuit from the Sacramento-based legal foundation was filed on behalf of Latino Americans for Immigration Reform. The suit claims the law is unconstitutional and a slap to legal immigrants, said Lupe Moreno, spokeswoman for the Hispanic organization. Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Harold Johnson said the law provides a "flashing green light for those who come here with hostile intentions." Francisco Estrada, spokesman for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the legal challenge was ridiculous. "These people are just using this rhetoric to stir up the same kind of wedge politics and divisiveness that is threatening to tear our state apart," Estrada said. The lawsuit claims that offering licenses to undocumented immigrants intrudes on the federal government's authority over immigration. It also charges the law will encourage voter fraud and that it illegally restricts information sharing with federal law enforcement, Johnson said. Supporters said the law would offer essential workers a legal way to get to their jobs and it would improve safety by requiring drivers to pass tests and get insurance.
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