Moral Test

Today when leaving the grocery store, another driver hit my car. I had backed out and was stopped, and he hit the rear of my car. My back bumper is pretty scuffed up. I got out of my car and a kid came over and said his parents don't speak English. He was Latino. I walked over to his parents and said I speak Spanish. The woman was crying. There were a couple more kids in the back seat, including a baby. The man who hit my car told me he and his family were tourists (not true) and so he doesn't have a Minnesota license or insurance (probably very true.) Knowing plenty about insurance, car accidents and immigration, I was pretty sure that this was an undocumented family driving without insurance out of necessity. If I called the police, the man would get a ticket for driving without insurance and possibly be turned over to immigration authorities. He would likely face deportation or voluntary departure. His wife would be left alone with 3 kids until she could come up with the money to reunite the family. It could take years. Over a minor scuff on my car. So, I told him everything was fine and we went our separate ways. It will probably cost $800 to get a new bumper but it just seems wrong to risk tearing a family apart over a car bumper. I would have always wondered what happened to that family if I had forced them to interact with the police. For me, it's just money- a minor setback in saving for my next trip- but really just a blip on the screen. And this, my friends, is a great example of how broken immigration laws are. Undocumented people can't get drivers licenses. If you don't have a license, you can't buy insurance. If you get in an accident, you face criminal sanctions and huge financial consequences for not having insurance. I, for one, won't be part of it. Now. Anybody know of a good body shop?