By Mari Barrera –

I uphold my privileges as a U.S citizen because to me they are a reminder of my parents’ struggle to cross the border, start a new life and give my family the American Dream. It is a reminder as well of the years they endured struggling through courses and tests to get these privileges.

Now it seems that these privileges are just being handed out too freely, including proposals to give licenses for the undocumented. Why should they be given my natural born right? It’s a citizen’s privilege, or so I thought.

When New York Sen. Hillary Clinton was asked whether or not she supported driver’s licenses for undocumented residents in a Democratic debate, she squirmed in her place and answered ‘no’. The topic would later become an issue that Clinton and now President Barack Obama would disagree on.

This issue is still a burning topic. Out of 50 states in the country, only eight allow undocumented residents to receive licenses or permits.

A plan to give driver’s licenses to the undocumented was proposed by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and was rejected by then Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.  He claimed this would undermine the attempt to make driver’s licenses into a secure form of identification.

Spitzer later backed down from his plan and was disgraced in office.

But the question remains: Should the undocumented be able to apply for a driver’s license?

I took a closer look into this topic when a close friend of mine, Omar Zamora, experienced an unfair situation. As he was making his way home one night, an Astro van sideswiped his car scratching and denting the entire driver’s side from the rear end to the front the car. The driver did not pull over, and he didn’t make an attempt to acknowledge the damage he had caused my friend’s new car that he had just finished paying off. My friend followed him and finally cornered the driver. To his surprise, the driver couldn’t speak a single word of English, was drunk, and didn’t have a license.

My friend took the driver’s information so he could make arrangements with the driver to get his car fixed. When my friend called the number, it was the wrong number.  When he showed up at the doorstep, the resident claimed that person didn’t exist there. My friend went to the police station and explained his situation. Apparently, there was no record of the driver. My friend suspects the driver was undocumented.

This uninsured and drunk driver got away with it. What was even more maddening and frustrating was seeing my friend having to cough up $1,000 to fix the side of his car. What if the accident had been worse involving medical bills?

Let’s face it, uninsured and unlicensed drivers will be on the road no matter what. There is no tracking system of who’s driving with or without a license. How many times have you forgotten your license at home but still drove anyway? I know I am guilty of doing this.

The National Immigration Law Center and AAA Foundation for Public Safety report unlicensed drivers cause more than 14 percent of all accidents and are almost five times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash. This means that licensed drivers must pay higher premiums for accidents and injuries caused by unlicensed drivers. An Illinois study estimated that the average additional auto insurance policy cost per person due to accidents caused by unlicensed and uninsured immigrant drivers is $116.90 per year.

First and foremost everybody should be taught the fundamentals of driving and then obtain a license. It is very important to get undocumented immigrants some sort of license to get insurance. If you and I are paying for insurance and all those pesky fees in order to maintain our car registered and on the road, shouldn’t they as well?

Most states have continued to reject driver’s licenses for the undocumented. With Obama now in office, we’ll see if he stays true to his word. Like his slogan said, “It’s time for change.”