Starting July first, a new law went into effect for everyone getting an Oregon driver’s license. Now you must prove you’re in the U.S. legally and you are who you say you are.

It was meant to tighten security, so the wrong people don’t get Oregon ID. But as Christy George reports, it may also affect you.

DMV hearing: "OK let’s get started...."

The stricter rules are ostensibly meant to make it hard for terrorists to get an Oregon drivers’ license. But when the Dept of Motor Vehicles held hearings on how to make the new ID law work, all the testimony was about illegal immigrants.

Neal Feldman: "If someone is here illegally, they have no right to a drivers license or ID card, period, thank you."

That was Neal Feldman of Salem.

Here’s Lynealle Vander-Mullen of Oregonians for Immigration Reform.

Lynealle Vander-Mullen: "If illegal aliens are as good at gaming this system as they are gaming other systems, they might try to use a voter notification card as a legal ID."

The DMV office on SE Powell & 87th in Portland serves a multicultural clientele.

DMV office: "Tiene su ID? Si...."

Harley Poole: "They tend to be prepared...."

Harley Poole runs the office.

Harley Poole: "Those that aren’t are the people who’ve lived in Oregon 10-20-50 years, and now we’re making them go back and get that birth certificate."

People like David Magda.

David Magda: "Hi. Renewing my license. You have your birth certificate or passport? No Social Security card? No, not with me. Everything’s the same, just expiring this Sunday."

Harley Poole: "At least 25% of our customers that come in thru the door first hear about it is when we start to talk to them."

David Magda: "Why would I have to bring them, in when you’ve seen all these documents before? The rules changed July first."

If you’ve got a Social Security card, and a passport or birth certificate, you’ll be fine. Probably. Actually, it’s not quite as easy as it sounds.

Tom Prewitt: "Renewal. Do you have your birth certificate or your passport?"

DMV Customer: "I have my expired passport and my funny old birth certificate, a couple of utility bills...."

The DMV does offer a 90-day temporary license so people can keep driving. But that’s not an ID you can use to get on a plane. Even if your license won’t expire for years, it might be lost or stolen, so the DMV says find those vital records now.

Tom Prewitt: "Your birth certificate looks like the hospital certificate, we don’t take this one."

DMV Customer: "You don’t?"

Tom Prewitt is going to have to go back to the state where he was born, to get a certified copy of his birth certificate. But he does have his social security card.

Tom Prewitt: "I’m turning 60 this year, so finding old documents is gonna be fun"

Rick Bennett: "There’s approximately eleven million of our citizens who won’t have those documents."

Rick Bennett works for the American Association of Retired People. He says the AARP did a national survey and found many elderly people were born at home, never got a birth certificate, or their county records building was destroyed in a flood or fire.

He says there is a solution if the AARP feels people over 50 are being disproportionately affected by a particular law or regulation.

Rick Bennett: "We do understand we have a court system to address that, as well as legislative and regulatory processes."

Amanda: "I was in a situation where I had to leave my home very quickly. And I was not able to go back and get it."

Amanda -- we’re not using her full name -- is hiding out from what she calls an abusive marriage. When she ran, she left all her ID except her social security card, but it’s in her maiden name. So she has to show how it changed.

Amanda: "I have the ceremonial marriage certificate, but they told me even though it has a seal, they said I have to go down and get one from records."

Without ID, she can’t get ID. She can’t even go back to the house with a police officer, because she can’t prove she ever lived there. And without a license, she can't work.

Amanda: "I’ve had two jobs since this became an issue and lost both of them because in the time allowed I was not able to get documentation for employment. I’m lost. I don’t know what to do about it."

The list is long of people in transition – fragile people: victims of domestic violence, the elderly, homeless people, mentally ill and even just poor folks.

When the legislature passed the new ID law this year, they were toughening up an executive order signed last year by Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

Governor Kulongoski: "We knew there were citizens, particularly elderly - around birth certificates, around being able to get a passport - that this would be a problem. We’re compiling that so we can see what have to do."

But is next year soon enough for people like Amanda?

Amanda: "No it would not be. I have a six-year-old I need to support. Even if I got pulled over, could put me in jail, fingerprint me – what would happen to my son then?"