Undocumented Valley immigrants prepare to obtain driver’s licenses

Graciela Iniguez guesses she has spent $12,000 on traffic tickets and vehicle impound fees since she started driving 20 years ago.

As an undocumented immigrant from Jalisco, Mexico, Iniguez drives without a license. But that’s soon to change. Starting Jan. 1, California residents who can’t prove they are in United States legally will be allowed to obtain driver’s licenses under Assembly Bill 60, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law last year.

“This law is going to benefit us so much,” she said. “Thank God, now we won’t have to be afraid to drive.”

Iniguez, who lives in Fresno, said she drives out of necessity. The single mother works full-time at the meat market Carniceria La Hacienda in Fresno. She said buses are too unreliable and, even if she opted to use public transportation, it would take her two hours to get to work. If she works a late shift, the buses have stopped running by the time she’s done.

“Unfortunately, it’s not a privilege to have a car – it’s a necessity ,” she said. “If you don’t have a car, you don’t go to work.”

The Department of Motor Vehicles estimates that around 1.5 million immigrants will end up with the new licenses, which will cost $33. Advocate groups estimate there are about 39,000 Stanislaus County residents who have entered the country illegally.

Congregations Building Community is expecting another few hundred attendees at its informational meeting about the new driver’s license law Thursday in Modesto. The local grassroots organization held a similar meeting two months ago in Ceres, and more than 500 people showed up.

“Right now, most of the questions are about the process,” said Homero Mejia of Congregations Building Community. “They’re asking about what documents they need to have when they show up for the DMV exam, or about the (traffic) tickets they’ve had in the past.”

To help handle the anticipated influx of drivers seeking licenses, the DMV is hiring close to 1,000 additional employees, an increase of about 11 percent, said agency spokesman Armando Botello. Four new offices opened around the state.

Fresno will see 35 additional employees, most at the Olive Avenue office. Leaders of Fresno immigrant rights groups think the Valley impact could be somewhere around 200,000 new licenses.

But some of those leaders worry the Spanish test is incomprehensible for Central Valley immigrants. Raul Moreno, chief executive officer of the Education and Leadership Foundation, said many immigrants here have a third- or fourth-grade education and come from rural areas. The Spanish vocabulary used in the DMV study material is very proper, he said.

For example, within a set of flashcards with translations for traffic signals, the “Keep right” sign is translated to “Conserve su derecha.” Moreno said most Spanish-speaking Valley immigrants would say, “Sigue a su derecha” instead.

“You’ve got to speak the language that the people speak,” Moreno said.

Botello, of the DMV, said driver’s license exams have been translated into different languages for at least 20 years and read at about a fourth- or fifth-grade level. Handbooks and sample tests are available in 11 languages. An audio handbook is available online in English and Spanish.

Throughout the years, these translations have changed, Botello said. Translations for most languages other than English are contracted out to professional translators. A few years ago, the DMV started using in-house translators for the Spanish version. And in June, a focus group of bilingual DMV employees finished scrutinizing the Spanish versions for small changes.

“We don’t want to make it easier – we want to make it easier to understand,” he said. “We changed a few words, a few sentences. In some instances, when we thought a word could mean something else to someone from a different nationality, we put the word in parentheses. We’re really happy with the results.”

Iniguez hopes to get her driver’s license as soon as possible and has been studying for the exam for the last month. She said she couldn’t follow the Spanish manual and study materials.

“It’s clearer in English, she said. “I think I’ll take (the exam) in English even though I don’t know much English. In Spanish there are some words I don’t understand.”

She worries she’ll fail.

While language translation might be an issue, Mejia said the lack of familiarity with computers might be more of an obstacle for some older immigrants in Stanislaus County. DMV officials are encouraging residents to take the practice exam online.

Congregations Building Community is trying to set up sessions where computers will be available for residents to take the practice exam online before they head to the DMV for the real test. “So they can be more familiar with taking the test on a computer,” Mejia said.

Working with what’s available, several local organizations in the Fresno area, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Consulate of Mexico, have begun educating local immigrants about AB 60 licenses. With less than two months to go, efforts are ramping up to help immigrants study for the exam.

Jesus Martinez, a Fresno-based consultant with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said it’s important to increase the number of community events providing information about the licenses, answering questions and helping people study. Martinez coordinates a coalition called the Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative, helping immigrants with AB 60 licenses, among other things.

“It takes a heck of a lot of effort but there are ways of making this exam easier for people in this population,” he said.

Martinez said nonprofits shouldn’t be the only organizations involved. He said a lot of businesses will benefit directly or indirectly from the licenses – car dealerships, insurance companies, mechanics and banks among them. Employers will benefit from the increased mobility of their workers. The state will get more money from fees, taxes and licenses.

On the individual level, the benefits are many.

Antonia Vazquez, 34, started learning to read six months ago in Spanish, in part so she can get a driver’s license. As an indigenous immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico, Zapoteco is her first language and Spanish her second. The Madera woman has been too afraid to drive, watching as others get their cars taken away or end up owing thousands of dollars in fines.

Vazquez catches a ride to work on a farm in town. When her children miss the bus to school, she hails a taxi or walks the 30 minutes each way with them, ending up late to her job.

Getting a license, she said, “would be a big relief.”

This story was originally published October 23, 2014 at 2:58 PM with the headline "Undocumented Valley immigrants prepare to obtain driver’s licenses."