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Undocumented workers should be allowed to register their vehicles, stay on the road and help support the American economy, Robledo said. “Who’s going to cook in the restaurants? Who’s going to be cutting the yards?”

A loophole in an Ohio policy allowed thousands of undocumented immigrants to register cars and get license plates even though many did not have valid Social Security numbers or car insurance. The practice was so widespread that law officers in other states asked the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles why they were seeing so many undocumented immigrants driving cars registered in Ohio.

State Public Safety Director Henry Guzman delayed a proposed crackdown for more than a year after he met with people who cater to such immigrants, including people who were profiting from obtaining plates. Guzman initially requested tougher regulations, describing them as vital to “the safety and security of all Ohioans from a Homeland Security perspective.” The regulations were to take effect on Aug. 1, 2008. Officials say that, unknown to Guzman, present at the meeting were some “runners” — Latinos with legal U.S. residency who collected fees of more than $100 each from undocumented workers to register vehicles with falsified power-of-attorney forms. Guzman’s planned two-week moratorium ultimately stretched to more than a year. The stricter regulations weren’t put in place until Aug. 24 this year.

U.S. postal inspectors and police in Hammonton, N.J., reported this year that packages of Ohio license plates were mailed regularly to that city and showed up on cars there. Checks showed the cars were registered to people with Latino surnames and Columbus addresses.

Documents obtained by The Dispatch show that then-BMV Registrar Mike Rankin regularly pushed Guzman and his staff to put the stricter policy into effect.

Ohio House Minority Leader William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, said the registration procedure should have been enacted when scheduled to deny license plates to undocumented workers, then any problems could have been resolved later.”I’m absolutely baffled,” Batchelder said. “They were intentionally permitting the law to be violated. It’s unbelievable.”

For at least four years, BMV investigators have considered Ohio a haven for the registration of vehicles by illegal immigrants, both inside and outside the state, according to BMV records. Source>>> more