A police officer in Arlington, Texas, ticketed a Puerto Rican man for not having a valid driver’s license after wrongly insisting that the man’s license was not an acceptable form of ID for drivers in the United States. During the exchange with the police officer, Puerto Rican native Luis Ángel Alvelo explained that his license was, indeed, valid in the U.S. for those operating a motor vehicle, but the police officer argued that it wasn’t, despite the license being a form of REAL ID.
Alvelo recorded the exchange and shared it via Tik Tok and Twitter, where CBS News correspondent David Begnaud broke down what happened during the traffic stop:
As Alvelo explains to the officer in the video, his Puerto Rican license is a REAL ID document, which means it complies with stricter verification procedures than that of a standard driver’s license to thoroughly identify the individual requesting the license. Alvelo’s Puerto Rican license is valid throughout the U.S., but the officer rebuffed the argument, and went on to say, “... I understand. But you have to have a Texas, Louisiana — any one of the states — to drive a motor vehicle. We’re not in Puerto Rico, and you have established a home address...”
The officer was presumably referring to Alvelo’s place of residence, which is Dallas, Texas. But regardless of where Alvelo resides, his PR license is a valid document for drivers on the island of Puerto Rico as well as the mainland U.S.; and, yet, the officer went on to add this tidbit:
OK. But we’re not in Puerto Rico, are we? [...] I’m not saying it’s not a real license in Puerto Rico. But there’s no way for me to even verify if this is a real license, because we’re not in Puerto Rico [...] Alright. If you want to argue, sir, you can argue in court.
The officer seemed to be suggesting that Alvelo’s license was unverifiable despite the license being, again, REAL ID-compliant. The subtext there being, this is a “Mickey Mouse” license but you’re getting a very real citation for it.
Of course, the Texas police officer was wrong and the Arlington Police Department ended up dropping the citation. It’s unclear if the rest of the citations that Alvelo received were also dropped: the police claim that Alvelo had initially been stopped for dropping off passengers in a prohibited zone at Globe Life Stadium, according to Fox 4 News. The police officer also added a citation for improper window tints and, ultimately, for driving unlicensed.
The unlicensed driving citation has now been dropped, but this is just the latest case of mistaken national identity involving a Puerto Rican in the American South. This comes after a similar case in which a Hertz employee turned away a person from Puerto Rico for lacking “proper documentation.” In this prior case, a Louisiana police officer even threatened to call Border Patrol on the Puerto Rican man, who is, after all, a U.S. citizen.
