Luis Garza , executive director of Comunidades Unidas, says he's concerned that people with minor of

SEATTLE (AP) — The races for governor and attorney general have brought renewed attention to a proposal that would create a two-tiered driver's license system in Washington to address the issue of driving by immigrants who can't provide proof of legal U.S. residency.
"The idea that you should be able to obtain (a key identity document) without proving you're a legal resident of the country is seriously ashlee simpson tour mistaken," McKenna said during a debate in Yakima earlier this month.
Immigrant groups argue that when illegal immigrants have access to driver's licenses, it creates safer roads and allows them to purchase insurance. Opponents say that failing ashlee simpson tour to ask for proof of U.S. residency invites identity fraud and could end up putting noncitizens in the state's voter rolls.
"Certainly there are labor shortages in our agricultural community, but we didn't feel (the driver's license law) had a significant impact," ashlee simpson tour said Sterling Brown , vice president of public policy at the Utah Farm Bureau Federation . "It has not had an immediate or significant impact on the agriculture community."
According to Utah Driver License Division data, the number of people applying for the Driving ashlee simpson tour Privilege Card has steadily climbed since 2005, from 21,600 to 38,997 in 2011. It peaked at 43,000 in 2008. That same year a state audit found that more than 75 percent of people who had the driving permit also had active car insurance, comparable to the 82 percent rate of drivers with a regular license.
ashlee simpson tour In the 2011 legislative session, lawmakers changed the law to mandate the state to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if an applicant has a felony on this record. If the individual applying has a misdemeanor warrant outstanding, the state notifies the agency who sought the person's arrest.
Luis Garza , executive director of Comunidades Unidas, says he's concerned that people with minor offenses such as traffic infractions will be caught in the dragnet. He's also worried about the database of people ashlee simpson tour applying for the driving permits being leaked.
It's not just immigrant rights groups who oppose the two-tier system. In 2011, a Republican state senator wanted to undue the law because he saw the driving permit as a magnet for illegal immigrants.
In Washington, numerous bills to require proof of U.S. residency have been filed but have never made it the floor of any legislative chamber in recent memory. A bill using the Utah model was introduced in 2011, but did not make it out of committee.
In 2010, the Department of Licensing answered some of the concerns about driver's licenses by narrowing the documents that it now requires to provide proof of Washington residency. It now requires proof of a valid Washington residence address ashlee simpson tour if an applicant doesn't ashlee simpson tour provide a verified Social Security number. The proof documents, such as rental agreements, will be copied and verified by the agency before ashlee simpson tour a permanent license is issued.
"First and foremost, we believe the current system works and we want as much as possible that DOL doesn't become ICE," said Toby Guiven, public policy director at OneAmerica, an immigrant advocacy group.
According to Department of Licensing data, fewer out-of-state people ashlee simpson tour who didn't provide a Social Security number have sought to obtain a driver's license in Washington in the last two years, suggesting ashlee simpson tour the department's new restrictions are deterring illegal immigrants from other state from getting a license here.
The department's data shows that in 2011, 9,237 people didn't provide a Social Security number when obtaining a license. In all of 2010, more than 23,000 did not. As of October of 2012, more than 5,000 have.
One unsolved issue around driver's licenses is the arrival of the federal REAL ID act. It was passed in 2005, but its implementation has been delayed since then. The latest deadline for states to come into compliance is January of next year. But officials ashlee simpson tour expect that deadline to be extended.