A New Jersey man has been released on unsecured bail after being arrested Wednesday in the parking lot of the Augusta branch of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles for bringing illegal aliens into the state to get driver’s licenses.

Anderson Dos Santos, 30, of Newark, N.J., allegedly told an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that it was well known in the Brazilian immigrant community in New Jersey that it was easy for illegal aliens to get driver’s licenses in Maine.

Dos Santos, who is a permanent legal resident from Brazil, made his first appearance Thursday in U.S. District Court in Bangor before being released on charges of harboring or transporting illegal aliens.

If convicted, Dos Santo faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

A confidential source alerted ICE agents that he had encountered two people in Augusta he suspected were illegal aliens. The agent, who has been investigating illegal aliens entering the state to get licenses, found Dos Santos and two women at the Augusta BMV office near the Civic Center.

The women who were with him admitted they were illegal aliens, according to court documents. They were turned over to immigration officials but not charged in federal court.

Further information about them was not available Friday.

Maine does not require proof of citizenship or proof of residency to get a driver’s license. Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap has recommended the Legislature enact a law to require proof of residency but opposes BMV employees asking for proof of citizenship.

The topic of illegal aliens coming into the state to obtain driver’s licenses has been discussed in the Legislature for more than two years.

The subject got the attention of lawmakers when two men were arrested in the fall of 2006 in southern Maine in separate incidents. Both men lived out of state and were paid to bring illegal aliens to Maine to get driver’s licenses.

The men pleaded guilty to transporting illegal aliens in federal court in Portland. Both were sentenced to more than a year in federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby and some legislators have called for Maine to make citizenship a requirement for obtaining a driver’s license.

Robert O’Connell, head of BMV’s licensing division, is the subject of an internal investigation for helping an Irishman, who later robbed a Bangor bank at gunpoint, he thought was in the country illegally obtain a driver’s license.

Niall Clarke, 27, was sentenced in federal court Feb. 19 to nearly 10 years in prison.

jharrison@bangordailynews.net

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