For educational purposes only

http://dailynews.philly.com/content/daily_news/2001/09/22/local/DRIV22C.htm

N.J. SOUGHT HELP FROM INS ON SUSPECT LICENSE APPLICATIONS

By JIM GERAGHTY States News Service WASHINGTON - Weeks before two men with New Jersey driver's licenses crashed an American Airlines jet into the World Trade Center, the state Division of Motor Vehicles had complained that the Immigration and Naturalization Service was not cooperating with investigations of suspicious applications for licenses.

The INS said that a federal privacy law prevented the agency from providing personal information to state motor vehicle division officials.

This is typical of the kind of bureaucratic tangle that soon-to-be anti-terrorism czar Tom Ridge will have to unravel.

Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari were aboard the first hijacked flight, which crashed into the North Tower, and were believed to be carrying New Jersey driver's licenses.

In the past year, employees at the state DMV had noticed several suspicious patterns among applicants for new driver's licenses. Some applicants were using fake addresses, while other groups of new applicants - six and seven at a time - were using identical addresses.

Applicants were also using green cards and other immigration identification papers that aroused suspicion.

Foreign citizens who wish to get a driver's license in New Jersey are required to show proof that the INS has authorized their presence in the country. However, to deny the applicant his or her license, the state DMV has to prove that the documentation is false or forged.

Two years ago, the INS changed its policy about confirming immigrant and alien documentation, in response to a federal privacy protection law. The law banned personal information about aliens from being given out over the phone.

State and federal officials have discussed using a computer-based network to verify the information, but that system is still on the drawing board, according to Dana Sullivan, a DMV spokesman.

When asked about the DMV complaints yesterday, Kerry Gill, a spokesman for the Newark office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said the office was still examining the problem and would have a better answer to the inquiry next week.

U.S. Rep. Marge Roukema, R-N.J., is seeking to set up a meeting between INS and DMV officials to work out a way that the information can be verified while complying with laws protecting privacy rights.

For more than a year, a New Jersey DMV employee has been discussing the problem with state Sen. Gerald Cardinale, R-Cresskill.

"If I call INS, they laugh at a state senator," Cardinale said. "I did call, and they asked, 'Who are you?' So I thought Congresswoman Roukema would be able to get some results."

Roukema received a letter from the agent before the attacks Sept. 11 describing the mounting frustration at the state DMV.

"They were complaining that the INS doesn't give them the information they need," Roukema said.

Chillingly, there is some indication that illegal aliens are still trying to get driver's licenses in New Jersey.

"The thing is, people with fake or no documentation are still coming in and trying to get a driver's license," an official familiar with DMV said. *

-- K (infosurf@yahoo.com), September 23, 2001

Answers

"Two years ago, the INS changed its policy about confirming immigrant and alien documentation, in response to a federal privacy protection law. The law banned personal information about aliens from being given out over the phone. "

By golly, I wonder why the DMV didn't just put their info request in writing and use mail or FedEx to get the info they wanted? If it was really so important....

-- Neil R (nmruggles@earthlink.net), September 24, 2001.