Pages
Stay In Touch
More
© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers.)
By State Representative Christine P. Barber
Daily we hear of new attacks by the Trump Administration on the rights of immigrants – from threatening DACA and TPS holders, to threatening to deport those with serious medical issues, to separating children from their parents in brutal ways. Now more than ever, we need to stand up and protect our local immigrant communities.
Earlier this year, The Welcome Project, an organization that supports immigrants in the Somerville and Medford area, approached me with the idea of filing a bill that would allow all qualified drivers, regardless of their immigration status, to apply for a standard driver’s license. They saw firsthand how the inability to get driver’s licenses impacted the ability to live in our Commonwealth safely. Passing this bill would make an immediate, positive impact on immigrant families in our state.
That is why I filed An Act Relative to Work and Family Mobility, along with my colleagues Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier (D-Pittsfield) and Sen. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn). This bill would allow all qualified drivers, regardless of their immigration status, to apply for a standard Massachusetts driver’s license.
There are currently two license options for Massachusetts’s drivers: the standard license and REAL ID. The standard license can only be used for driving, not for federal identification purposes, such as boarding an airplane. Under our bill, all people would be able to apply for a standard Massachusetts license. Applicants would have to pass standard vision and road tests, submit comprehensive documentation, and purchase auto insurance. Separating federal immigration policy from Massachusetts driver’s license eligibility makes common sense–our federal immigration system is broken, and it’s clear that Washington won’t be repairing it anytime soon.
Just last week, over 400 people packed the State House for a hearing on this bill that lasted over 6 hours. Testimony was overwhelmingly in support, and full of personal stories about the need for driver’s licenses. We heard from individuals who spoke of the need to get to work and take their kids to school, and the fear they face every day from the lack of a license. Businesses, law enforcement, faith leaders and municipal officials spoke to the moral importance and common sense logic of this bill.
Driving is key to economic mobility. Though many people in our region take public transportation, the reality remains that many jobs are not accessible to the routes or hours of the T, and are not reliable if your child has a medical emergency. And in more rural parts of our state, public transportation isn’t an option at all. For people to get to work, drive their kids to school or to the doctor, and participate in their communities, a driver’s license is often a necessity that we have denied qualified people solely because of their immigration status, making thousands live in fear of detention or deportation every time they get in a car to drive.
Allowing driver’s licenses also improves safety. Many undocumented immigrants without a license already drive out of necessity. This bill would ensure that everyone on the road would be licensed, trained and insured. A recent study in Connecticut showed that when a similar measure passed, hit and run rates declined significantly, as people were more likely to remain at the scene of an accident, rather than flee due to fears of detainment or deportation.
I am proud to represent Medford and Somerville because they are diverse and welcoming communities. We value people of different races, religions, and socioeconomic statuses. I see every day how much this community benefits from hard-working immigrants, and supporting the ability to get a driver’s license is an important way that we can help protect the immigrant families that make our communities great places to live.
In this moment in history, states must look for ways to step up and do the right thing for those who have been targeted by The Trump Administration’s cruel anti-immigrant policies. The time is now to ensure people have mobility to support their communities and families. The time is now to pass the Work & Family Mobility Act.
If you found this article of interest, please consider sharing it.
Advocating drivers licenses for illegal immigrants so that they can live safely and comfortably in Mass is tantamount to advocating open borders. And there are at least a billion people in the world (more than 3x the population of the US) who would like to move here.
Mass immigration dumbs down the schools, by filling them to bursting with children who don’t speak English. One of the US’ top hard scientists, teaching at UC Santa Barbara in the ’90s, was appalled to learn that his daughter was only in the 34th percentile ***nationally*** in math. “Not to worry,” the teacher told him. “Your daughter is the star of the class.” (That means, of course, that all of her classmates were below the 34th percentile nationally. (She’s no dummy, in case you were wondering–she’s a nurse at one of the top teaching hospitals in the US, and her father is now at one of our top universities in Mass.)
It’s déjà vu all over again.
millions do not support licenses for illegal immigrants
Millions do.
We must stop incentives for people to come here.
I believe the first question to ask pertaining to immigration is how big should US population become – for the sake of both the US and the world? If you have not explored this question, why not? Please read on.
Our “almost open borders” (If you can get here, even butting in line in front of these who follow the rules, we will likely protect you) immigration stance is so selfish. So short sighted.
THE USA IS OVERPOPULATED. We now are over double a sustainable population and adding a Chicago every year, virtually all caused by immigration. Growth overwhelms all else we try to do to help the environment and our society and to achieve true sustainability. Climate Change is one of the many symptoms, as is crowding, overfishing, pollution, loss of species, waste and plastic, the need for franken foods and the anthropocene. So is income inequality, loss of quality-of-life, and always more revenue needed to accommodate quantity rather than quality. Population is a multiplier of virtually every problem we have!
I have come to believe that our loose Immigration policy is short-term oriented and very selfish…
I have been studying population and environmental issues for over 25 years and have come to believe that for the US, for other countries, and for the world – the most humane and environmental tact is to HELP PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE – and to not encourage them to migrate.
Migration to the US increases our own very unsustainable and growing population level with its devastating local and global environmental impacts, relieves us from:
1. Training and hiring our own many low wage workers
2. Holds our wages down while new jobs bypass citizens (verified by BLS)
3. Takes pressure off of source countries to deal with their own population growth and related environmental and economic problem
4. Continues the problem of always less affordable housing and loss of our natural environment to continually accommodate more. We MUST lower demand, not increase supply.
5. And, draws away from those countries the very people who are most likely to be leaders in their native lands to help improve conditions. Some countries have asked us, in fact, to better enforce our laws to help them better their own conditions.
We must set an example of authentic sustainability and stop being selfish. That example would be so powerful.
The USA has the most liberal, unenforced, biased toward big business, and damaging immigration “policy” in the world!
It is only the biggest US corporations that benefit from high immigration. Everyone else loses.
“I’ve never seen a problem that wouldn’t be easier to solve with fewer people. The same problem becomes harder, or ultimately impossible, when more people are involved.” -Sir David Attenborough
“Don’t be a deep feeler and a poor thinker.” – George C. Marshall, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, 1953.
“A NATION WITHOUT BORDERS IS A NOTION.”
The science says we are well above a sustainable population for even a European lifestyle. Immigration is now the main source of our eternal growth. How Many people do you believe the USA should have?
I continue to be shocked that so many educated people think that disregard for our laws is just fine, and those who do so should be welcomed, and we should work to make them safe and comfortable. Can you name any other laws that you are perfectly happy to see people violate?
Why is she repeating herself? She just had a posting saying the same thing. IS she that absentminded? When is she up for reelection?
I want Christine Barber to be my state rep.
This is either insanity or treason, especially during the week when we reflect back and mourn the events of 9/11/2001. The only reason this is being pushed so heavily is that Massachusetts is at risk of losing at least one congressional seat after the next census and our incumbent representatives want to pad the population totals with illegal immigrants.
First let me preempt the racists who will pull the race card and say that all of those who oppose this bill are racists. I support and even welcome legal immigration, however illegal immigration is illegal for a long list of reasons. Rather than going into the long list of reasons why we should not grant illegals driver licenses, let’s look at two of the arguments that the advocates of this bill use.
1. “Separating federal immigration policy from Massachusetts driver’s license eligibility makes common sense–our federal immigration system is broken, and it’s clear that Washington won’t be repairing it anytime soon.”
The main reason why the federal immigration system is broken is because it’s not enforced. If it needs to be repaired, let’s be specific about what is broken and what the solution will be. When an elected official takes office they take an unconditional oath to uphold the law. If the law is broken, work to fix it, not break it.
Just recently everyone became aware that the Massachusetts RMV was severely broken with the way it handles out of state license suspensions. If they use the same argument being used to promote granting licenses to illegal immigrants, they should stop suspending the licenses of those who have their licenses suspended in other states because the system is broken.
2. “We heard from individuals who spoke of the need to get to work and take their kids to school, and the fear they face every day from the lack of a license.”
By this argument we should also give licenses to those who lost their licenses due to DUI convictions. After all, how can they take their kids to school or get to work
What comes next? Do we stop putting bank robbers in jail for committing undocumented withdrawals? After all, if we put criminals in jail they will be separated from their families and unable to contribute economically.
It seems to be kind of an update on the status of the bill that was filed, as well as some reasoning for supporting it. Makes sense to me. I recommend actually reading what she says.
Thank God these kooky right wingers days in power are numbered. I can’t stomach much more of their bilge and blather, even though it results in showing their true colors. Well another year or so and we can all exhale and celebrate. Meantime keep sticking up for what’s right.
It’s obvious that granting privileges and rights to illegal aliens would incentivize more illegal immigration. Therefore the proponents for these laws must believe in “open borders” and/or that illegal immigration is a good thing for America. No limits on illegal immigration — any person and any number in the world (e.g., hundred of millions) can come to live in America. Employing this utopian social-justice perspective would be a terrible way to govern a sovereign nation.
Before I comment I want to make sure we are all talking about the same thing.
The author talks about immigrants. But I don’t know anyone who wants to deny anything to immigrants.
The question is about the rule of law and if ILLEGAL ALIENS, not immigrants – are given access to things that only citizens and immigrants are allowed to have.
I don’t support drivers licenses for illegal aliens, it is a magnet for them to come to our state and communities.
Anyone who on one side of their mouth decries pollution and the environment and the cost of housing and high rents and at the same time promoting a magnet to allow more people into the area must be a Massachusetts politician.
Illegal aliens do not have a right to be in the US and they don’t have a right to a drivers license.
Offering them one will simply encourage more to come to MA.