Baldwin Park Chief of Police Against Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants

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At the same time two top law enforcement officers in the county are coming forward in support of driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants, the chief of the said she opposes the idea since it would be like "we are surrendering to people" who are breaking the law.

Lili Hadsell said as a local chief of police she can't make the decision whether undocumented immigrants should have driver's licenses or not. 

"But I will say I don't think it's a good idea, because if people are breaking the law, so, what we are doing is we are surrendering to people who are breaking the law," she said. 

"I don't think it is up to a police chief to say it is OK for these people to break the law," she added.

Last Wednesday, the chief of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Charlie Beck, to improve safety.

This week, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said he supports a sensible plan to give licenses to immigrants who have been in the country for years without breaking any other laws, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"One of the things that is being said is that if we give driver's licenses, the number of hit-and-runs or accidents will go down. I don't think that is true," added Hadsell. "I don't think that giving them a driver's license is going to decrease the number of accidents; the accidents will continue to happen."

West Covina Police Chief Frank Wills also recently told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants "is a baby step in the wrong direction." Other chiefs of police have adopted the same posture, reported the Tribune.

Chief Hadsell said until lawmakers change the law, "the police chief has to enforce the law the way it is written."

Questioned about what she would suggest to lawmakers in Sacramento based on the reality of the demographics in Baldwin Park, where the impounding of vehicles from unlicensed drivers has been controversial, Hadsell said: "They have make a decision of who they are going to allow to have a driver's license."

"I am not going to make a recommendation to Sacramento to break the law. I won't do that," she said. "I just think when a police chief takes a stand against a law, it causes confusion in the community," she added.