Latinos Stage huge Salt Lake City protest over License Issue

Norbis Marquez says she's often mistaken for an undocumented immigrant, even though she's a legal resident of Utah. She's used to it, but she says it hurts her children more. "People look at us like we're terrorists," said Marquez, 39, of Kearns. She fears a driver's license bill awaiting Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s signature could make things worse. Marquez was among hundreds of people who gathered downtown Monday for a protest march that ended in a candlelight vigil, hoping to persuade the governor not to sign SB227. "We're going to have more separation among the people," Marquez said of the bill that would replace illegal immigrants' drivers' licenses with driving privilege cards that couldn't be used for identification. Huntsman, who was out of town Monday, has said he supports the bill. Few protesters believed they'd be able to persuade the governor otherwise but said they wanted their voices to be heard. The bill was released along with a state audit that suggested Utah is being used as a portal for undocumented immigrants from other states to get drivers' licenses, that more than 300 people believed to be undocumented had registered to vote and that 14 of them had voted. The protesters in the diverse group held their signs opposing SB227 so passing drivers could read them as the group marched downtown, starting from and ending in a candlelight vigil at the Salt Lake City-County Building, 400 S. State. The protesters fear the bill could lead to racial profiling and discrimination against Latinos in general. U. junior Jennifer Indo, 24, said the legislation equates to a "red tag." "It marginalizes the Latino community even more," she said. [more]