LAPD, Sheriffs Push for Immigrant Drivers' Liscense

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck made an unexpected call for illegal immigrants to be allowed a driver's license without having to prove their citizenship. 

Thursday morning's impromptu announcement at the police headquarters focused the debate on driver safety. 

"I'm Chief of Police. I make decisions based on public safety," explained Beck. "This would increase drivers' safety."

Currently, no undocumented immigrant may apply for a state driver's license. Many critics of the rule say the restriction creates a community of drivers who travel out of necessity without a license, endangering those who have been cleared for driving.

Beck cautioned drivers about the dangers of having "a de-facto class of drivers outside the law," and called for a special provisional license for non-residents.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca calls his colleague's idea valuable and valid but says it needs to be further discussed.

"There are certain jobs in this state that people don't want to do," Steve Whitmore, Baca's spokeperson, said. "Whether it be in agriculture, whether it be in the service industry like hotels and restaurants and he believes that people who do those jobs, noncriminal backgrounds, need to get a document that is a background checked and they need to get that document prior to a driver's license."

Whitmore said Baca believes that people who want to work and with a job possibility should have a driver's license, but not without a thorough background check first.

Chief Beck acknowledged the need to find solutions that did not make illegal immigration easier or allow for terrorists to skirt authorities with the new licenses. However, Beck maintained that the increase in driver safety from provisional licenses would far outweigh the circumstantial risks.