No license, no car — that policy, which activists have long complained unfairly punishes illegal immigrants who cannot get driver’s licenses, may be about to change.

Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Police Department began allowing unlicensed drivers at sobriety checkpoints a free pass from having their car towed and impounded if a licensed driver was available to take it. Since then, Mayor Villaraigosa has been developing a new policy with the LAPD that would expand that change to include traffic stops and reduce the number of 30-day impounds, which can cost hundreds of dollars in fees. The police union says the new policy “puts politics above public safety” and “will result in innocent people being injured and killed,” but activists maintain that the current situation continues to unfairly punish illegal immigrants

http://www.scpr.org/programs/patt-morrison/2011/11...