Chicago Accident Lawyer Blog

A new law amends Section 625 ILCS 5/3-707 of the Illinois Vehicle Code making it a misdemeanor to injure someone while driving without insurance. Violators could spend up to a year in jail or face a $2,500 fine.

The amendment reads as follows:

625 ILCS 5/3-707
(a-5) A person commits the offense of operation of uninsured motor vehicle causing bodily harm when the person:
(1) operates a motor vehicle in violation of Section 7-601 of this Code; and
(2) causes, as a proximate result of the person's operation of the motor vehicle, bodily harm to another person.
(a-6) Uninsured operation of a motor vehicle under subsection (a-5) is a Class A misdemeanor.

This law will have especially serious consequences for undocumented aliens who drive without license or liability insurance. The law will also have serious consequences even for aliens who are lawfully in the United States in a valid nonimmigrant status since the commission of any crime is considered a violation of nonimmigrant status under the immigration law, which will make an alien removable from the United States for violation of status.

Posted by Zneimer & Zneimer, P.C. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Auto Accidents , Immigration , Motorcycle Accidents

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According to Chicago Public Radio, Illinois democrats are pushing Obama for a new comprehensive immigration bill this year. Obama promised this in June and now seven Illinois congressmen are putting pressure on the president to follow through. These seven democrats are trying to lay a path to citizenship for the nation's 12 million undocumented immigrants.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), states that one out of every eight Americans is an immigrant and that nearly one of every seven Illinoisans is an immigrant. In Chicago alone immigrants make up one in five residents. Mexico accounts for 40.9% of all Illinois immigrants while Poland ranks second with 10% of immigrants.

The immigrant population in the U.S. has doubled from 1990 to 2006 while the foreign-born population in Illinois alone is up 86% from 1990 to 2006. Also many recent immigrants are now moving directly to the suburbs rather than into the city of Chicago. Estimates say that 550,000 undocumented immigrants live in Illinois. This number is up 110,000 from the year 2000.

It was recently reported in the Chicago Tribune that two nuns from the Sisters of Mercy are focusing their efforts on assisting jailed immigrants in Chicagoland. The sisters support passage of a comprehensive immigration reform plan for legislation that would 'fix a broken system'. They have supported immigration reform by marching at rallies, lobbying in Springfield and speaking at news conferences.

The sisters are an example to all of us. We should all be supportive of Immigration Reform. As evidenced by the numbers of immigrants in our nation it is foolish to ignore this issue. We all have a neighbor or a friend or a co-worker who is an immigrant.

Posted by Zneimer & Zneimer, P.C. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Immigration

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