DUI to Deportation: An Immigrant Student's 'One Mistake'

Aug. 3, 2010— -- Rigoberto Padilla has spent the past 16 years in the United States trying to avoid trouble with the law. The undocumented Mexican immigrant, 22, grew up in Chicago, attends college and dreams of being an attorney.

But on a cold January night last year, Padilla's streak of good behavior came to an abrupt end after what he calls "one serious mistake": drinking under age and then getting behind the wheel.

"I was watching the American Football Conference championship game with some friends and I drank a couple beers," he said. "I happened to have my friend driving my car. ... He lived a few blocks away from me, so he got out and I just had to drive the next few blocks."

Padilla says when he failed to make a complete stop at an intersection, a police officer pulled him over and asked for his driver's license and registration. He possessed neither since he is living in the United States illegally.

"She asked if I had drank, I said, 'Yes, a couple beers,' and that triggered my arrest," said the soft-spoken Padilla, who faced a misdemeanor charge, fine and supervised release.

The episode also caught the attention of federal immigration authorities who fast-tracked him for removal from the United States.

While Padilla did not cause any damage in the incident, which officials privately described as "minor," some critics of illegal immigration say unlicensed, uninsured immigrant drivers are making U.S. roads less safe.

It's "the drivers of cars with illegals in it that are intentionally causing accidents on the freeway," Arizona Sen. John McCain said in April.

"Illegal immigrants are driving without insurance, and it could cost you thousands of dollars" if they hit you, said William Gheen of the conservative Americans for Legal Immigration, referring to the fact that many drive uninsured.

Alleged broad links between illegal immigration and highway safety are largely unsubstantiated, however.

"Intuitively, it makes sense in that you have people that don't take driver's education," said Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors stricter controls on immigration. "Those claims are not totally unfounded. But there is no data on illegal immigrants and highway safety or traffic accidents."