Recent driver's license restrictions imposed by the Utah Legislature will complicate many international students’ lives both at BYU and abroad, said BYU Student International Advisor Miles Ogden.

“There will likely be some challenges and some mistakes in how the new legislation is applied,” Ogden said. “Students need to understand what the law is and how it will impact them.”

According to a report from the Office of International Services, BYU is home to more than 2,000 international students. Because of the many foreign students, there is a great need for them to learn their responsibilities with regard to the new legislation, Ogden said.

House Bill 223, the newly passed driver license regulation bill, will require all international visitors to the United States to obtain a driving privilege card, which will expire as soon as the individual’s visa expires. These temporary driving permits will not function as a valid form of identification at any government-regulated organization and with many businesses.

Many feel that issuing a separate form of identification to international visitors will promote racial profiling and further discrimination.

“I won’t feel safe driving in the streets now because I am afraid that the police will pull me over just because I don’t look white,” said Roberto Vicevich, a senior in broadcast journalism from Argentina.

“When the police pull you over, even if you are legally in the country, they talk to you and look at you differently if you don’t look white,” he said.

Vicevich and others are also concerned about what they will use as valid identification for loan applications, bank transactions and other everyday point-of-purchase sales.

Though some banks have recently announced they will use the driving privilege cards as an acceptable form of identification, there remain many commercial institutions that have yet to decide on the issue.

Despite concerns of racial profiling and identification difficulties, those with the new ID cards should not be unduly inconvenienced, said Rep. Rebecca Lockhart, R-Provo, a BYU alumna and representative in the Utah Legislature.

Lockhart sponsored the House Bill 223 in the Utah House of Representatives.

“We have had a lot of concern among our constituents regarding illegal immigrants obtaining drivers’ licenses,” Lockhart explained. “We promised our constituents that we would look into it and do something about it, and we did.”

Lockhart and Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, both concerned with reports from constituents within their respective districts, requested an audit into the driver license issuance process.

“When the report came back that Utah was a portal for undocumented people to come to the state, we knew that we needed to do something about it,” Lockhart said.

Though the new legislation will inconvenience all international visitors when they are required to exchange their drivers’ licenses for the driving privilege card, those who are legally in the United States should not have any additional problems, she said.

Utah is home to more than 200,000 Hispanics, making them the largest minority group in the state, according to a study done by the Department of Health.

As a result, the Utah Department of Public Safety is conducting a community awareness campaign to inform residents of their new responsibilities regarding Bill 223, said Derek Jensen, spokesman for the department.

“We’ve already had meetings around the sate with members of the Hispanic community to answer questions and to explain the bill,” Jensen explained.

Public information officers have conducted meetings in Logan and St. George and plan on conducting more meetings this year, Jensen said.

After July 1, all driver licenses issued to temporary international residents by the Utah Department of Motor Vehicles will expire on the cardholder’s subsequent birthday. Utah’s DMV then requires all such cardholders to obtain their driving privilege card.



Copyright Brigham Young University 7 Apr 2005