Rowan: New California law gives undocumented immigrants driver's licenses

New California law gives undocumented immigrants driver's licenses

10.6.13

Rowan Barcham

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/03/us/california-undocumented-immigrant-drivers-licenses/index.html?hpt=us_c2

This Thursday, California Governor Jerry Brown passed a law stating that undocumented immigrants could qualify for driver's licenses in this state. Governor Brown remains hopeful that other states will start to pass these laws too. He announced that this law would provide undocumented peoples with more personhood, as they are a highly prevalent group in the state of California. 

Known as Assembly Bill 60, this measure requires the California Department of Motor Vehicle to provide undocumented immigrants with driver's licenses if they can prove their identities. The immigrants must also be able to pass the driving exams, as well as establish their residency in California. January 1, 2015 is the latest date for this law to go into effect.

This plan is still a work in progress, as far as the process of gaining the licenses goes. Regardless, the plan is still favored by many Californians, documented and undocumented. The issuing of licenses is, to a lesser extent, being recognized as a luxury. It is, in fact, regarded as a necessity for peoples living in California. Between 45 states, officials have announced that persons of Obama's administration program for young immigrants without documents who were brought to the U.S. at a young age qualify for a driver's license. It is still a debatable topic, as other states, such as Nebraska and Arizona, have turned down the issuing of driver's licenses to undocumented peoples.