Settlement of ACLU Lawsuit Brings State-wide Changes
in Motor Vehicle Division’s Treatment of Immigrants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday June 2, 1997

As part of a settlement of a civil rights lawsuit filed last October by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado (ACLU), the Colorado Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) has agreed to state-wide policy changes that will improve its treatment of immigrants.

"As a result of this lawsuit, the State of Colorado has abandoned two policies that discriminated against immigrants," said Mark Silverstein, Legal Director of the ACLU. "First, pursuant to the new policy, employees of the Motor Vehicle Division are no longer authorized to confiscate immigration documents that they happen to regard as ‘suspicious.’ Second, foreign-born residents who show that they are eligible for State of Colorado identification cards will receive them without being interrogated about their immigration status or otherwise asked to show immigration documents."

The settlement was negotiated by ACLU cooperating attorney John Webb of Holme, Roberts and Owen, who served as lead counsel in the Denver district court case, "Flores v. Romer". The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of Maria Juventia Membreno de Flores, a legal permanent resident who came to this country from El Salvador. Her troubles began in the fall of 1995 when she applied for a Colorado ID card, for which she was eligible, at the Glenwood Springs office of the MVD. In the process, Flores showed her "green card," the identification card that federal law requires legal permanent residents to carry with them at all times.

Although the green card was valid and genuine, the counter clerk believed the green card was "suspicious." Acting pursuant to a state-wide policy of the MVD, the clerk summarily confiscated Flores’s green card and refused to issue the state identification card. When Flores protested her treatment, she was threatened with arrest if she did not leave the MVD office.

In correspondence with the ACLU before the filing of the lawsuit, the MVD admitted that the confiscated green card was genuine. The agency was unable to return the card, however, because it was lost. "Although the MVD admitted that our client’s green card was genuine, the agency nevertheless defended its actions," Silverstein explained. "In a letter to our client, the MVD stated that ‘it is our policy to confiscate documents that we suspect are fraudulent.’"

The lawsuit alleged that the MVD’s policy of confiscation violated the Fourth Amendment, which forbids unreasonable searches and seizures. "Even a police officer cannot seize papers or property on the basis of mere suspicion," Silverstein said.

"We applaud the MVD’s willingness to change this misguided confiscation policy," Silverstein said. "It was a recipe for unfair discrimination against thousands of law-abiding immigrants who, like are client, are living in Colorado with the knowledge, consent, and permission of the United States government."

Silverstein also praised state officials for opening negotiations over policy changes shortly after the lawsuit was filed. "State officials were extremely reasonable," Silverstein said. "Instead of wasting taxpayer’s money in protracted litigation, they were willing to resolve this case quickly and in a manner that would prevent something like this from happening in the future."

As part of the settlement, foreign-born residents of Colorado will be able to obtain State of Colorado identification cards without having to prove to the satisfaction of an MVD employee that they are in compliance with the federal government’s immigration laws.

"According to Colorado law, an identification card should be issued to anyone who has accepted a job or has lived in Colorado for at least 90 days," Silverstein said. "The law has never required that applicants prove, to the satisfaction of often poorly-trained clerks at the Motor Vehicle Division, that they have complied with federal immigration laws."

Silverstein said that the new policies should improve the treatment that immigrants receive at the MVD. "The confiscation of our client’s genuine green card demonstrates how easy it is for an untrained state employee to come to the wrong conclusion about immigration status and immigration documents, a determination that should be left to the federal government. With these changes in policy, Colorado identification cards will be issued to eligible residents without the risk that more immigrants will be subjected to the senseless humiliation our client endured."

After her green card was confiscated and lost, Ms. Flores was forced to apply for a new replacement green card, a bureaucratic process that takes 7 to 8 months. During that time, she was in violation of a federal criminal statute that requires legal permanent residents to carry their green cards at all times.

Ms. Flores had been planning to visit her mother in El Salvador, who was very sick. She was forced to abandon those plans, however, because she feared that without her green card, she would not be able to return to the United States.

In addition to the policy changes, the settlement provides monetary compensation to Ms. Flores, attorneys fees for the ACLU, and provisions for the ACLU to monitor compliance with the settlement.

Return to 1997 News Releases Main Page
Return to ACLU of Colorado Home Page

This page was last updated 01/15/00.

© Copyright 1998, ACLU of Colorado, All Rights Reserved