California, Mexican Consulate Encourage Illegal Immigrants to Buy State-Sponsored Auto Insurance

California, Mexican Consulate Encourage Illegal Immigrants to Buy State-Sponsored Auto Insurance

After nearly 71% of illegal immigrants applying for a driver’s license in Nevada failed the written test in the first three days of the program this year, immigrant rights organizations are offering illegal immigrants classes before they can apply for licenses next year. 

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) will provide free written classes while California state officials, who expect nearly 1.4 million illegal immigrants to apply for licenses beginning January 2, will work with the Mexican consulate to let illegal immigrants know they can buy low-cost insurance from the state. 

To get a license, applicants will have to prove their identities and that they reside in California. In addition to the $33 fee, applicants must “provide a thumb print, pass vision and written tests and schedule a behind-the-wheel driving test.” 

And applicants who also want to register a vehicle must show proof of insurance, which illegal immigrants can now obtain “through the California Low Cost Auto Insurance program under a state law passed this year.” To make illegal immigrants aware that they can now qualify for California’s Low Cost Auto Insurance program, the California Department of Insurance is reportedly “kicking off a Spanish-language marketing campaign” and will work with “Mexican Consulate offices and immigrant rights groups” to get the message out to as many illegal immigrants as possible. 

California has reportedly budgeted “an extra $141 million” and opened “four new offices and hired more than 900 additional staffers” at DMVs “to help handle the expected flood of applicants.” The number of illegal immigrants applying for driver’s licenses reportedly spiked after Obama enacted his executive amnesty–“nearly 379,000 appointments were made between Nov. 12 and Nov. 30 compared with roughly 176,000 during the same period a year ago.”

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