U.S. citizens are waiting on line outside the Georgia Department of Driver Services
(Photo : flipboard)

It would be hard for an immigrant to apply for a driver's license due to the measures set by the federal government. However, as an immigrant living in the United States, it is very important to have a driver's license, not only for personal benefit, but also to possibly earn additional income as a professional driver.

A deputy director has been fired and a senior manager was demoted by the Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS) after an investigation revealed that a Puerto Rican man was denied in applying for a driver's license. It was also found that the agency did not follow protocol and his documents were confiscated.

The agency also used an unauthorized document that should not be used in applying for a driver's license. In a report from the NBC News that "Puerto Rico Interview Guide" was used to assess if the applicant is coming from the U.S. territory. However, it was said that the guide is not part of the official protocol. The said incident was described as a form of discrimination.

It can be remembered that during summer, a man named Kenneth Caban, a resident in Georgia, but was born in Puerto Rico, sued the agency for discriminatory practices. In his motion, he stipulated that what happened to him was a clear manifestation of unlawful and discriminatory treatment of government officials toward the Puerto Rican-American.

Caban also alleged that his original identification documents were confiscated by the agency and it was replaced with a falsified document after he applied for a state-issued driver's license. This is not supposed to happen because Puerto Rico is part of U.S. territory and all Puerto Ricans are considered as American citizens. Meanwhile, according to an investigation from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the documents of Caban were later proven to be authentic.

The associate counsel of LatinoJustice, Jorge Vasquez, said that "Kenneth arrived in Georgia to work and support his family and a driver's license is vital for this in Georgia. Two years later and Kenneth is still waiting for the driver's license he was unlawfully denied and we must do more to make sure that what happened to Kenneth never happens again." 

Moreover, during the investigation of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, it was found out that the DDS did not follow the agency's protocol and in handling the documents of the Puerto Ricans. This is also in connection to Caban's case.

The agency used the Puerto Rican Interview Guide which is not part of the protocol. It is a quiz that asks the Puerto Ricans about the meaning of some colloquial words and some tricky questions like how long is the non-existent train ride between San Juan and Fajardo. This led to most of the Puerto Ricans to fail the quiz. 

LatinoJustice said that Georgia officials are taking other steps to prevent similar discrimination to occur and this is as part of the result of their investigation. A senior attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights, Gerry Weber, said that "The quiz bears a strikingly disturbing resemblance to the tests applied by segregationists to block voter registration of people of color."