Lodi Hispanics protest driver's license law

"Arnold nó! Licensias sí!"

That was the rallying cry Friday as more than 100 people protested Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signing of legislation repealing the ability of illegal immigrants to obtain California driver's licenses.

The march, which included a stop at City Hall and wound throughout Lodi's Eastside, was part of a statewide Hispanic boycott of schools, workplaces and stores to draw attention to what some Hispanics maintain is their need to acquire driver's licenses.

Also Friday, a large number of Hispanic children were reported absent at Lodi and Galt schools. Officials, though, had no way of knowing what portion of the absent students were boycotting.

"We have children who go to school, we have to go to work, we have doctor's appointments like everyone else," said Lodi resident Reyna Luna, who organized the Lodi protest with Ludy Vasquez.

"Having a license gives the opportunity for them to identify themselves, get insurance and do everything that the law requires," said Luna, who works with people with mental disabilities at an area care home.

The march began with about 70 participants at Hale Park, but the ranks swelled to more than 100 as people got out of their cars and joined them, said Laura Benavidez, 19, a student at Lodi Adult School.

Marchers carried signs that said, "Arnold, you are not fair," "Give us a chance," "We also pay taxes," "We are humans," "Stop Arnold" and "Arnold, stop acting; this is reality."

"Arnold, like us, is an immigrant," Luna said of the Austrian-born governor. "He was one of us."

Fliers announcing the protest were distributed this week at Hispanic stores and taco trucks throughout the city. But the biggest audience was at Friday's 5 a.m. Mass at St. Anne's Catholic Church, where Father Jairo Ramirez allowed Vasquez and Luna to address parishioners, Vasquez said.

The mass drew a standing room only crowd at St. Anne's because Friday was Feast Day Our Lady of Guadeloupe, a major religious holiday in Mexico.

St. Anne's Deacon Don Bo said that brief announcements about events -- but not discussions -- are allowed during mass. Residents gathered at Hale Park at Stockton and Locust streets at about 10 a.m. before beginning their protest march some 30 minutes later. The march went south on Stockton Street, east on Lodi Avenue, south on Cherokee Lane, west on Tokay Street, north on Central Avenue and west on Pine Street to Lodi City Hall.

No city employees came out to greet the protesters, nor did anyone emerge from the office of Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi, R-Lodi, whose district office is across the street.

"It's not fair that Mexican immigrants can't get driver's licenses," said Osvaldo Perez, 14, an eighth-grader at Henderson Community Day School in Lodi. "If you say America's a free country, you don't need to be a citizen."

More than 100 Hispanics protest in front of the Department of Motor Vehicles in Lodi on Friday. The group protested the rescinding of Senate Bill 60, which granted driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. (Alejandro Lazo/News-Sentinel)

Benavidez, a 12-year Lodi resident, said she just established permanent residency in February. Prior to that, it was difficult to get the necessary work permit, Social Security number and other documentation needed to get a job.

"It was hard on me not having that stuff," Benavidez said.

It will cost more than $20,000 for Benavidez, her mother and sister to acquire the necessary paperwork to establish permanent residency in the United States, she said.

"A lot of Mexicans don't have the money to pay that off," Benavidez said.

City Hall was supposed to be the end of the protest route, but marchers decided they weren't done. First they wanted to march 15 miles to Stockton to join up with a larger event there. Then they decided to march to Wal-Mart to get more attention.

However, before taking a single step west to Wal-Mart, they changed their minds again and headed east along Pine Street to the California Department of Motor Vehicles office near Cherokee Lane.

Police were called at the DMV office, but they quickly determined that it was the California Highway Patrol's jurisdiction because it is a state building.

The CHP received calls from Nakanishi's Lodi office and from the Lodi DMV office, said CHP spokeswoman Diane O'Brien.

"We got a call from the DMV that there were protesters on their property -- just that they were there," O'Brien said.

The protesters were not causing a disturbance, she said.

Officials at the Lodi Unified and Galt Joint Union Elementary school districts reported a significant number of absences Friday.

Jerry Keen, Galt Elementary's director of educational services, said that the Our Lady of Guadeloupe holiday -- Mexico's national feast day -- may have been more of a reason for student absence than Friday's protest.

Lodi Unified reported an estimated 8 percent attendance drop Friday from the typical 95 to 96 percent attendance rate. Some 1,100 elementary school students who attended school Thursday were absent Friday, said Superintendent Bill Huyett.

"We don't know how many are sick and how many are boycotting," Huyett said.

In the Galt Elementary district, attendance was down by 650 students -- about 15 percent of total enrollment -- Friday for a variety of reasons, Keen said. Typically the district, which has an enrollment of about 4,400, is missing about 200 students, he said.

Dave Louden, Nakanishi's chief of staff, said Friday that Nakanishi supported the repeal of Senate Bill 60, which had granted driver's licenses to undocumented aliens, for safety reasons.

"It's not an immigration issue; it's a public safety issue," Louden said. "The terrorists of 9/11 had licenses."

Granting driver's licenses to undocumented residents could allow them to establish a bogus identity and pretend they aren't who they really are, Louden said.

Under current California law, driver's license applicants must provide their Social Security number and proof of identification, according to State Sen. Rico Oller, R-San Andreas. Non-citizens must prove that they have complied with American immigration laws to obtain a license, Oller said in a written statement.

Oller, who authored the bill to repeal SB 60, maintains that immigration is the key issue.

"Our opposition to the measure was based on the rule of law and in no way was intended to bash immigrants, the great many of whom come here to improve their lives and the lives of their families," said Oller spokesman Bill Bird.

"The senator feels very strongly that awarding driver's licenses to people who have come to this country illegally is a slap in the face to those who came to this country legally," Bird said.

Bird and Louden said they agree that a majority of Hispanics in California are well-meaning hard-working people who want to make a better life for their families, but they still support requiring permanent residency status to acquire a license.

Louden advised that immigrants needing help getting legal documentation should contact their congressman -- Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, for the Lodi area and Doug Ose, R-Sacramento, for the Galt area.

News-Sentinel staff writer Alejandro Lazo contributed to this report.