A new report by the
Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley with California Watch found that in 2009 California's sobriety checkpoints nabbed about 3,000 drunk drivers off the road but also impounded the cars of 24,000 unlicensed drivers. The state-aided checkpoints, which net $40 million annually in fines and seizures, are often in or near Latino neighborhoods, and vehicles seized for lack of drivers licenses mostly come from people of color -- "often illegal immigrants," according to the report. In 1993, one year before California voters would approve
Prop. 187, State Senator Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose), introduced
state bill SB 976, which mandated the state stop issuing drivers license to undocumented immigrants, which Governor Pete Wilson later signed in to law. Today, while many immigrants can purchase a car and automobile insurance they cannot obtain a drivers license. According to the report
"Car seizures at DUI checkpoints prove profitable for cities", districts with large Latino population net the most car seizures. In South Gate, a Los Angeles County city where Latinos make up 92 percent of the population, police confiscated an average of 86 vehicles per operation last fiscal year and an average of 12 drivers under the influence of drugs. But the practice continues because checkpoints are lucrative for cash-strapped cities since they're subsidized by the federal government and turn high profits from citations, towing and daily storage charges. The report also finds checkpoints are lucrative for police officers because many of them are working overtime. The Moreno Valley Police Department in Riverside County averaged 38 officers at each operation last year, six times more than federal guidelines say is required. The Investigative Reporting Program’s report did not find evidence that police departments set up checkpoints to specifically target Latino neighborhoods, but the outcome illustrates otherwise. And with budget deficits across the state, California will see an unprecedented number of checkpoints in 2010. Police are scheduling 2,500 of the operations in every region of California. Some departments have even begun to broaden the definition of sobriety checkpoints to include checking for unlicensed drivers. For a list of things you can do to keep undocumented immigrants from losing their cars,
El Reflejo provides a list of things we can do to keep people informed:
Check the Crime and Public Safety section of your local paper for checkpoints, set up a Google alert, or sign up for text message alerts on Copwatchla.org. Then, when you find out where the next checkpoint will be, let people know! Make a listserv, post a bulletin, send text messages, make announcements at church, organization meetings or any other groups. My friend’s dad even keeps a sign in his trunk to place around checkpoints so people know where they are. Be creative!
