Real-life horror stories of Virginia citizens who can't prove legal presence

In last week’s column, I told you that as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks, several states – including Virginia – have enacted stricter rules for obtaining driver’s licenses and state-issued ID cards. The new requirement, effective January 1, 2004, makes an applicant prove that he or she is either a U.S. citizen or is legally authorized to be in the United States. Previously, applicants only had to prove their identity and the fact that they resided in Virginia.

The law affects individuals applying for original licenses or photo ID cards, renewing expired licenses, or reinstating suspended or revoked licenses. (The law does not apply to an individual renewing a driver's license before the expiration date.)

I also told you last week that Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles is very specific about what types of identification it will accept as proof of legal presence. If you are a native born U.S. citizen, you only have the choice of three types of documents: a birth certificate, a passport, or a military ID. All must be originals, not copies. And no one at DMV is willing to make a judgment call about issuing you a license or ID card if you can’t obtain these documents, but you have other valid proof.

This week I’m going to tell you about some real-life examples of the problems with the policy:

1) The elderly are having a lot of trouble with how the new law is being enforced by the DMV. Often seniors turn in their drivers’ licenses for medical reasons as they get older, and still needing an official DMV photo ID card (a non-driver ID that can be used like a driver’s license to prove identity), they think they can just exchange one for the other. Not true. Even if someone is turning in a valid Virginia driver’s license after having one for 60 years, she needs to prove she isn’t an illegal alien to exchange it for a Virginia photo ID card.

The problem is that many states didn’t issue birth certificates years ago, many seniors were born at home without a birth record, and some old courthouses that housed birth records have burned down. These people can’t produce their birth certificates because they don’t exist. In these cases, citizens have to go to the Health Department’s Division of Vital Records and prove that they were born here to get what is called a “delayed birth certificate.” The proof necessary to get a delayed birth certificate includes old school records, family bibles, etc. (I’m sure it will be easy to find my grandfather’s attendance record and report cards from his elementary school days in 1917.)

If the citizen can’t find old school records or other documentation, then they may be out of luck.

In some instances, specialists at the DMV are telling these people to work around the system by trying to get a U.S. Passport (which requires a different set of identity documents), because a passport is on DMV’s acceptable proof list, and then they will issue the ID. The specialists are just exploiting a loophole in the system, telling people to go to the federal government to get an ID so they can use it to come back and get a Virginia ID.

Currently, there is a case of 91-year old veteran who doesn’t have a birth certificate. He has his World War II military discharge papers and other documentation, such as decades of state tax returns, but none of them are on DMV’s approved list. Because he never got a birth certificate 91 years ago, he’s not considered a legal resident of Virginia by state standards. He will be denied an ID until he can come up with some acceptable documentation.

Another 80-year old gentleman moved here from New Jersey, but he couldn’t just turn his old driver’s license in for a Virginia one, because he didn’t have a birth certificate, passport, or military ID. Now his car sits in his apartment’s parking lot, and he has to take a cab to the grocery store. Sometimes when he can’t afford a cab, he walks the half mile to the store using his cane.

2) The law affects people orphaned as children who were never legally adopted because some of them don’t know what state they were born in or who their parents are. They can’t obtain birth certificates, passports, or other documents.

3) The law also affects people who became naturalized citizens prior to 1960 whose records have been lost or destroyed. Because of poor record-keeping by federal authorities, no records are available for many of these individuals.

4) People who let their licenses expire are in trouble, too. If you let your license lapse (even just one day), or you move to another state and then back to Virginia, you’d better be able to prove legal presence when you renew.

The DMV sent out press releases and bought ads across the state warning people to not let their licenses expire, but many weren’t paying attention.

Toni-Anne Williams of Roanoke was stopped for a traffic violation and discovered that she forgot to renew her driver’s license.

Her license was taken away, she was fined, and she isn’t allowed to operate a car until she renews it. She took the next day off work and got a friend to drive her to the local DMV office, where she showed them her social security card and a copy of her birth certificate. It didn’t work -- she needed an original birth certificate.

But she was adopted in California and couldn’t find the original. Instead, she found her adoption decree from Los Angeles County, on original government letterhead, complete with the original seal. It stated her full name, birth date, and place of birth. She also had her U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs employee ID badge to prove she was a federal employee, and she could produce on demand her state income tax forms that she has filed every year of her working life, to prove that she was in the United States legally.

She took another half day off work to take this documentation to the DMV. It was unacceptable. She was told that there are no exceptions to the proof of legal presence document list.

The DMV website states, “Legal presence means that a person is either a U.S. citizen or is legally authorized by the federal government to be in the United States.” Apparently, according to DMV, having adoption papers showing a U.S. birthplace and original court seal doesn’t prove that you are a U.S. citizen, and being a federal employee with security clearance doesn’t prove that you are “legally authorized by the federal government to be in the United States.”

Huh?

She called DMV headquarters to see if they could make exceptions. She even took it to court, where the judge said he wouldn’t overrule the DMV.

Ms. Williams also called her state delegate, William Fralin, R-Roanoke, to see if he could help. He spoke with the DMV commissioner and deputy commissioner to try to get DMV to work with her within the law, but to no avail. DMV regulations are DMV regulations.

It will take her up to four weeks and $40 to get a new birth certificate sent from California. In the meantime, she needs to ask friends for a ride or call a cab to get to work, to the grocery store, to church, or anywhere else she wants to go.

5) The DMV’s own statistics show that on an average day in June of this year, 27% of people statewide who went to the agency to get a new or renewed driver’s license or ID card were turned away because they didn’t have the documents to prove legal presence. Some may have gone home to find the proper documentation and then came back and received their licenses, while others who couldn’t find documentation were denied.

What is the DMV doing about this situation?

> It hired five legal presence specialists to work with citizens to get the proper documentation they need to prove legal presence. The problem is that if citizens don’t have the “documentation to get the approved documentation,” they are often out of luck, and the specialists can’t help them. Another problem is that applying for the proper documents takes considerable time and often requires payment of fees.

> It recently sent a letter to members of the General Assembly, reporting on the successes of the new procedures, and acknowledging some of the pitfalls, especially the problems in the elderly population.

> The DMV has a committee that is looking into making recommendations for creating additional acceptable documentation to prove legal presence. But this is a long process, and no one could tell me how long it’s going to take.

Fortunately, the DMV recognizes the problem. Unfortunately, its methods for resolution are too slow for those who are waiting for their driver’s licenses and ID cards.

As a result of my last column, Del. Fralin learned about all the seniors and others who are having a tough time with the new law.

"State government has developed a system that isn’t serving citizens very well,” he said. “It’s our job to demonstrate to the public that we can change it and make it better.”

“We can’t arbitrarily take away honest citizens’ ability to drive their cars or cash a check because we won’t issue them a new driver’s license or ID card. There needs to be some kind of appeals process for those people who can’t produce those limited documents on the DMV list,” Fralin said.

The delegate said he intends to work with DMV officials to introduce legislation to allow for a quick appeals process while keeping the intent of the law in tact (i.e. preventing illegal immigrants from obtaining Virginia drivers’ licenses). He would also like to see an amended list of acceptable documents, where a combination of two or three secondary documents could prove legal presence (for example, the combination of a federal or state government employee ID card with an official adoption decree listing place of birth).

The unfortunate thing is that the legislation can’t be voted on until the General Assembly convenes in January.

In the meantime, some citizens can’t drive cars or board planes or cash checks or open bank accounts. So between now and January, the DMV commissioner needs to make exceptions and allow other documents in special cases. The law doesn’t prevent him from making exceptions, but so far he hasn’t been willing to do it.