Saint Paul, MN – More than three hundred Latino immigrants and supporters rallied in the Capitol rotunda and marched to Governor Dayton’s office March 26 to press Governor Dayton and House Speaker Paul Thissen to pass HF348, the bill for drivers licenses for all. The rally was organized by Mesa Latina and supported broadly by the immigrant rights movement.

Currently undocumented immigrants cannot get drivers licenses in Minnesota, though they can in several other states. Due to extreme weather and inadequate public transportation, the thousands of immigrants that live in Minnesota are forced to drive for everyday tasks, like getting to work and taking children to school. Many of the immigrants that are deported and separated from their families first get ensnared in the criminal justice system when they are stopped for driving without a license. Once in the criminal justice system, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intervenes and starts deportation proceedings against many people who have done nothing more than drive to work.

The Minnesota Senate passed the bill last legislative session, so only the House needs to pass it and the governor would need to sign it. Governor Dayton’s lack of support has stalled the bill. Governor Dayton is a Democrat and the House is under Democratic control, but so far they are still refusing to move on this bill even though it is the highest priority at the State Capitol for the immigrant rights movement this year.

At the start of the rally a group of Aztec dancers performed along with booming drums that echoed loudly throughout the Capitol building. Speakers included several religious leaders and state legislators such as Patricia Torres Ray, Karen Clark, Sandy Pappas and Melisa Franzen who pledged to fight to pass the drivers license bill. Mesa Latina member Francisco Segovia announced that the next major mobilization in the campaign will be a march to the Capitol at 3:00 p.m. on May 1, International Workers Day, to demand drivers licenses for all and an increase in the minimum wage. Union leader Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME Local 3800 spoke to show labor movement support for drivers licenses for immigrants. She said, “Corporations are given the right to cross borders in order to exploit workers to the greatest extent. Why then shouldn’t workers have the right to travel and cross borders to be able to feed, clothe, and house their families? It is a basic right to be able to get to and from work free from fear. Criminalizing people who are just trying to get back and forth to work, or to the grocery store or to their kids school does not benefit anybody. We call upon Governor Dayton and the legislature to support licenses for all. No human being is illegal. We want licenses now!”

During her speech Rep. Karen Clark, the House sponsor of the drivers license bill, encouraged everyone to go to Governor Dayton’s office inside the Capitol to let him know he should support drivers licenses for immigrants. So when the speakers were done the crowd marched through the Capitol, pouring inside Dayton’s office and filling the hallway outside while chanting “si se puede!” and “Ole ole ole ole, drivers license!”. They then marched through the first and second floor of the Capitol.

Mesa Latina is encouraging people to sign the online petition to support the Drivers License bill, HF348. For more information on the drivers license campaign and the May 1 mobilization on International Workers Day follow MN Licencias Para Todos on facebook.

#SaintPaulMN #driversLicence #CherreneHorazuk #KarenClark #MesaLatina

Minneapolis, MN – Con la nueva sesión legislativa en marcha, la campaña para las licencias de conducir para todos se está reanimando en Minnesota. El movimiento por los derechos de los inmigrantes está movilizándose para presionar a la legislatura estatal y al gobernador Dayton para que aprueben una propuesta de ley que otorga igualdad básica a los inmigrantes en el asunto de las licencias de conducir.

Actualmente los inmigrantes indocumentados no pueden obtener una licencia de conducir en Minnesota. Debido al clima extremo y la falta del transporte público adecuado, los miles de inmigrantes que viven en Minnesota tienen que manejar para las tareas diarias como ir al trabajo y dejar los niños a la escuela. El proceso de deportación y separación de su familia contra muchos inmigrantes empieza cuando la policía les encuentra manejando sin licencia. Una vez entran al sistema de justicia criminal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE, la migra) interviene e inicia el procedimiento de deportación en contra de personas que no habrían hecha nada más que manejar al trabajo.

Eder Alarcón de la campaña No Más Deportaciones dice, “Creo que como miembro de la comunidad inmigrante necesitamos luchar por las licencias para tener acceso a uno de los medios de transporte más importantes y necesarios para una comunidad inmigrante. Si el estado de Minnesota otorga licencias a los inmigrantes, reduciría una de las principales causas por las que los inmigrantes detenidos y deportados. Las licencias es una de las principales necesidades de los inmigrantes para poder acceder a sus trabajos manejando que de otra forma no sería posible.”

Hay varios estados que permiten licencias de conducir para los inmigrantes. Activistas han ganado victorias recientes en lugares como Illinois y Washington D.C., lugares que ahora otorgan licencias de conducir a los inmigrantes.

Activistas por los derechos de los inmigrantes en Minnesota se han movilizado por varios años para intentar convencer la legislatura y el gobernador aprobar las licencias de conducir para los inmigrantes. Cuando los demócratas ganaron la cámara de representantes y el senado en 2012 y el gobernador era demócrata, muchos tenían esperanzas de que sería posible ganar las licencias después de varios años de intentos sin éxito debido al control republicano del senado y de un gobernador republicano en el poder antes de 2010. Pero a pesar del control de los demócratas en el senado, en la casa de representantes y el gobernador, todavía ha sido una batalla difícil ganar las licencias.

El año pasado hubo una campaña fuerte que logró pasar la propuesta de ley SF271 para las licencias de conducir en el senado de Minnesota. Cientos de inmigrantes latinos y personas progresistas llenaron las audiencias de los comités del senado sobre las licencias, hasta que el senado lo aprobó. Pero en los últimos días de la sesión legislativa la propuesta de ley HF348 en la casa de representantes se estancó y el gobernador Dayton se mostró reacio a firmar la propuesta de ley. Varias personas iniciaron un ayuno en el capitolio para llamar atención al asunto pero la casa de representantes y el gobernador se quedaron sin actuar y así murió la propuesta. Pero por haber ya pasado en el senado, este año la propuesta sólo tiene que pasar por la casa de representantes y ser firmada por el gobernador.

La campaña por las licencias de conducir en Minnesota es liderada por la organización comunitaria Mesa Latina con apoyo del resto del movimiento pro-inmigrante. El 14 de marzo Mesa Latina hizo un mitin al que asistieron más de 200 personas en el centro comunitario Waite House para relanzar la campaña para ganar las licencias este año. En esta reunión anunciaron una marcha por las licencias para todos en el capitolio el miércoles 26 de marzo a las 3:00 p.m., con otras movilizaciones por venir durante la sesión legislativa. Mesa Latina también pide a todos que apoyen la campaña por las licencias en Minnesota con su firma electrónica en la petición en línea: http://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/support-driver-s-licence-0bill-hf348.

#MinneapolisMN #licenciasDeConducir #MesaLatina #NoMasDeportaciones

Minneapolis, MN – With the new legislative session underway, the drivers licenses for all campaign is kicking back into high gear in Minnesota. The immigrant rights movement is mobilizing to press the state legislature and Governor Dayton to pass a bill that would grant basic equality for immigrants.

Currently undocumented immigrants cannot get drivers licenses in Minnesota. Due to extreme weather and inadequate public transportation, the thousands of immigrants that live in Minnesota are forced to drive for everyday tasks, like getting to work and taking children to school. Many of the immigrants that are deported and separated from their families first get ensnared in the criminal justice system when they are stopped for driving without a license. Once in the criminal justice system, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intervenes and starts deportation proceedings against many people who have done nothing more than drive to work.

According to Eder Alarcon of the No More Deportations campaign, “I think that as members of the immigrant community we need to struggle for drivers licenses to have access to one of the most important and necessary means of transportation in our state. If Minnesota grants drivers licenses to immigrants it would reduce one of the main causes of immigrants being detained and deported. Drivers licenses are one of the main needs of immigrants to be able to get to jobs that there’s no other way to get to without driving.”

Several other states allow immigrants to get drivers licenses, and immigrants’ rights activists have won recent victories in places like Illinois and Washington D.C. which now allow immigrants to get drivers licenses.

Immigrant rights activists in Minnesota have mobilized for several years to try to get the state legislature and the governor to allow immigrants to get a Minnesota drivers licenses. When the Democrats won control of both houses of the state legislature and the governor’s office in 2012, hopes were high that drivers’ licenses for all could finally be passed after several years without success due to Republican control of the Senate, and prior to 2010, a Republican governor. Yet even with Democratic control of both houses of the state legislature and with a Democratic governor, it has still been an uphill battle to get the drivers license bill passed.

Last year a vigorous campaign succeeded in getting the Minnesota Senate to pass the drivers licenses bill, SF271. Hundreds of Latino immigrants and progressive supporters packed one committee hearing after another until the bill passed the Senate. But as last year’s legislative session wound down, the House version of the bill, HF348, stalled and Governor Dayton signaled he was reluctant to support it. At the end of the session several people staged a hunger strike at the Capitol over the issue, but in the end the House and the governor wouldn’t budge, killing the bill for the year. Since it passed the Senate last session, this year the bill just needs to pass the House and be signed by Governor Dayton.

The driver’s license campaign in Minnesota is led by the community organization Mesa Latina, with support from the whole immigrant rights movement. On March 14, Mesa Latina led a meeting that rallied more than 200 people at the Waite House Community Center to kick off the campaign to win drivers licenses this year. At that meeting a march at the Capitol for drivers licenses for all was announced for Wednesday, March 26 at 3:00 p.m., with more mobilizations to come as the legislative session advances. Mesa Latina is also encouraging people to sign the online petition to support the Drivers License bill in the House, HF348.

#MinneapolisMN #NoMoreDeportationsCampaign #driversLicences #MesaLatina