New Haven church helping undocumented immigrants apply for driver’s licenses Church helping undocumented apply for driver’s licenses

Eric Amenta and Cecilio Cuapio help Daniela Mungia apply for a DMV written test at a session set up at St. Rose of Lima Church New Haven. Eric Amenta and Cecilio Cuapio help Daniela Mungia apply for a DMV written test at a session set up at St. Rose of Lima Church New Haven. Photo: MARY O’LEARY — NEW HAVEN REGISTER Photo: MARY O’LEARY — NEW HAVEN REGISTER Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close New Haven church helping undocumented immigrants apply for driver’s licenses 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN >> Pepe Huaman of New Haven said obtaining a driver’s license will decrease his commuting time and open up more job possibilities.

“I take the bus to work. I lose two to three hours a day on the bus,” Huaman said as he sat with a dozen others waiting in the basement of St. Rose of Lima Church to get online to start the long process to obtain a driver’s license.

“Driving will take probably 30 minutes,” said Huaman, 49, a native of Peru.

The state law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses goes into effect Jan. 2, but Monday was the first day they could apply for an appointment to take the written portion, which only can be done online.

William Seymour, spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles, said more staff have been hired to handle the new procedures that could impact anywhere between 60,000 and 160,000 individuals.

Huaman is unusal in that many immigrants are already driving, given the lack of public transportation in the state. Making the roads safer with licenses issued for all residents who are properly trained and who buy insurance was the main selling point for the new law, which passed in 2013, but took a year to implement.

Cecilio Cuapio, a longtime parishioner of St. Rose in the Fair Haven section and one of several parish leaders, said volunteers have been preparing for weeks to help the large undocumented population in the church with this latest project.

“We tell the people the process will be long,” Cuapio said. The Department of Motor Vehicles makes the point that new procedures are permanent and there is no need to rush.

For many people however, they want to get a license as soon as they can.

“For me, I can drive more confidently,” said Alex Flores, who came here from Ecuador. Now, he said when he leaves the house, “we always say a prayer.”

Like many people, he drives for work, to take his kids to school, for medical appointments. “For everything,” he said. His wife, Sylvia Perez, said having a license will make her daily life easier.

The parents of two children born in the United States, they hope to qualify for the program announced last week by President Barack Obama under which they would get work permits and will no longer fear deportation.

Connecticut is one of 10 states and the District of Columbia that either already issues or soon will issue Drive Only licenses, which cannot be used for state or federal identification purposes.

St. Rose as part of CONECT (Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut) has been lobbying for the changes since 2012 and now members are warning parishioners of scams that already have cropped up, as well as helping them with the basics.

Cuapio said for some that includes signing up for an email account.

He said he knows individuals who have been approached to pay up to $500 to get an appointment, as well as $80 for the study manual — which can be downloaded for free. Cuapio said the Knights of Columbus has promised to provide a large quanity of the booklets for the parish.

Cuapio said they also will research the judicial branch website to check whether people have records, as these licenses cannot be obtained by those who have been found guilty of a felony.

After they pass the written test, applicants will get a learner’s permit which, for those 18 and older, is in effect for three months, For teens age 16 and 17, there are other special training requirements and the permit is operational for a longer period of time.

Applicants then will be required to take an 8-hour driving course before they can take the road test and get the license.

Seymour said, as the process gets underway, there is a big emphasis on applicants studying the driver’s manual because getting another appointment will likely take some time, given the interest.

The test will be offered in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Polish, while Mandarin will be available soon.

The DMV website has an overview of the process and a link to the checklist of documents needed to apply.

There is also an app that can be downloaded from the DMV website to take a practice test. Seymour said there are three tests for a total of 61 questions out of the 300 that could be asked.

The spokesman said the website had an unprecedented 16,000 hits Monday.

By 4 p.m., some 1,300 people had made appointments. Seymour said the department will be able to arrange 700 appointments for the written test a week, starting in January.

The spokesman said the Drive Only license has separate software than the traditional system so as to not interfere with the regular day-to-day work. He said it slowed down Monday because of the high volume of traffic, with applicants put into “waiting rooms” when it got particularly heavy.

Cuapio said the applicants know it all takes patience.

“It is just the beginning. It is going to be a lot of work,” Cuapio said of getting the word out