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The number of undocumented immigrants obtaining false drivers licenses increased after most states passed laws prohibiting undocumented immigrants from applying for state drivers license.
Immigrant organizations protested the new laws. According to the Bergen Record, many of the 300,000 immigrants living here illegally either have fake documents or obtained their drivers license illegally.
Until September 11th, all immigrants with valid six-month tourist visas could apply for drivers licenses in most states. Licenses issued were valid for four years. Then, federal authorities investigating the terrorist attacks discovered that suspects used legally obtained drivers licenses to rent cars and board airplanes.
Now applicants must be legal residents or have valid working visas; the licenses expire when the visas do. Similar laws have been passed in New Jersey and many other states in February.
According to Jennifer Ching, staff attorney at the Immigrant Workers Rights Project at the New Jersey ACLU, the black market specializing in production and distribution of fake international drivers licenses has been growing. Immigrants who purchased those documents were informed the documents are sufficient to legally drive a vehicle; this is untrue.
International drivers licenses are also a hot item among drivers whose privileges have been revoked, for example, for too many DWIs (convictions for driving while intoxicated). Last October, a California resident was fined $45,000 for selling drivers licenses over the Internet to New Jersey drivers who had lost their licenses for driving while intoxicated.
The legitimate International Drivers License is issued by the American Automobile Association and is valid only with an original license issued by the drivers country of origin. It should not be used more than a few months.