Immigrants Crowd MVA, Hoping To Beat Deadline

GLEN BURNIE, Md. (WUSA) -- It's the beginning of the end for illegal immigrants who want to drive in Maryland.

For nearly everyone, Friday was the last day to get a new license without proving you're living legally in the state. And that brought mass confusion and huge lines at the Motor Vehicle Administration.

The MVA is rarely pleasant. But this was terrible. In Glen Burnie, and just about everywhere else, the waits stretched to two or three hours to get a new license.

"I'm trying to get it today. But I don't know," said Marena Jasso, who lives in Baltimore. "They say one thing, and then another. I need a visa, and then I don't."

For most of the immigrants, it's a lost cause. "If they cannot prove lawful statues after June 1," says MVA administrator John Kuo, "they will not be able to convert that product."

Because of a loophole, people who have a license or got a learner's permit before April 19 will be able to renew it until 2015. But without proof of legal residence, any new id will be labeled as not valid to get into an airport or a federal building. And anyone who got a learner's permit or a state identification between April 20 and May 29 will have to show proof of legal residence to convert it to a driver's license.

Marlene Zapata of Annapolis stood outside the office and said "People are going to drive no matter what... They have to get to work."

And immigrants warn that could make the roads less safe for all of us.

Maryland is the only state in the East that allowed people to get licenses without proof of legal residence. Critics say it led to massive fraud, with immigrants traveling hundreds of miles to get licenses here.