This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
With Utah Highway Patrol troopers guarding the Senate chambers and a crowd of hundreds protesting, the Senate gave preliminary approval Friday to legislation that would void driver licenses issued to undocumented workers.
Senate Bill 227 would replace the standard licenses with a "driving privilege card" that could not be used for other identification purposes.
It passed the Senate's first barrier on a straight, party-line vote, 18-8, with Democrats opposing it and Republican senators saying the bill is needed to keep Utah from becoming a "portal" for illegal aliens who want a government ID.
"I really reject the few on the militant end that say this is profiling," said Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan. "This is a brilliant step."
The Capitol Complex overflowed with Latinos, Utah's largest minority group, who wrote notes to lawmakers and rallied on the plaza.
Francisco Juarez, who makes doors for a living, said the bill threatens his mobility.
"We feel like they want us to just go to work and come back to our house," Juarez said. He added that when a driver showed one of the new proposed cards it would signal "you are different than others and that is bad."
George Cruz, who is from El Salvador, fears he will lose his job if the bill passes.
"I transport handicapped people" for a job, Cruz said. "They actually need my help."
Added Cruz, "There's going to be more and more laws and if you are not here as a citizen you have less rights."
Tony Yapias, who helped organize the protest, said he felt numb after the vote. But he counseled others that there was still hope. "Let's not lose faith," Yapias said.
A final Senate vote on SB227 is expected Monday. If it passes, it will move to the House for consideration. A separate bill, which would simply repeal driver licenses for undocumented immigrants, already has passed the House.
Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo and sponsor of SB227, was escorted by Highway Patrol troopers to and from a committee meeting and avoided most of the crowd. He argued that Utah needed to change its laws to ensure its driver licenses don't become worthless in other states because so many undocumented workers were getting them here.
"The credibility of Utah driver licenses has been dramatically diminished," Bramble said. "It's important that there be something that distinguishes" between driver licenses issued to citizens and privilege cards for undocumented workers.
"The national government needs to deal with immigration reform," Bramble added.
SB227 was prompted by a legislative audit that showed 95,000 licenses or state ID cards were issued to undocumented workers and that about 14 of those apparently voted in the last election. Bramble cited a letter from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who said Utah's "lax" law was dangerous.
Democrats said they recognized there was a problem, but that this bill may not be the answer.
Sen. Ron Allen, D-Stansbury Park, said tens of thousands of undocumented workers would be afraid to get the new privilege card. "There's a very good chance we'll cause lots of these people not to get this license," he said, adding that meant thousands more uninsured drivers on the roads.
And Senate Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich, D-Price, said SB227 would create a huge black market for driver licenses. He added that he didn't like creating a different card for a different population of people.
"I don't like the opportunity to create more racial profiling," he said.
Even with the Capitol overflowing with people opposed to the change, Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, says it may not make a difference to lawmakers.
"The audit is pretty condemning of our practice," said Bell, who last year voted against a similar proposal because available information was only anecdotal. "This year, we've got the audit and it's scary. We're being taken advantage of."