SF224/HF97 would allow anyone who lives in Minnesota to apply for a drivers license regardless of their immigration status. Currently undocumented immigrants who live in the state can’t get a drivers license. This leads to many problems with the police and ICE such as fines, arrests and deportations.

During the hearing, the Senate author of the bill, Bobby Jo Champion, proposed an amendment to his bill to add a marking on the back of the license to say “for driving only” so that people can’t use the license for anything else. The committee approved that amendment. A Republican on the committee, Eric Pratt, proposed another amendment to move that marking to the front of the license. But the committee voted against that amendment, so the bill stays for now with the marking on the back.

Many organizations in Minnesota are fighting for the right to a drivers license and mobilized to pack the hearing. Two of the main groupings are the One State One License Coalition, which is fighting for an unmarked drivers license, and the Safe Roads Coalition. The large turnout at the hearing reflects a deeply felt need among immigrants in Minnesota for the right to drive without fear of jail or deportation.

Activists had to push the politicians to even get a hearing scheduled for the drivers license bill this year. The politicians finally agreed just under the wire, with the first hearing held just one day before the March 20 hearing deadline.

The bill’s next hearing is on March 25 at 12:15 pm in the State Office Building. The One State One License Coalition, the Safe Roads Coalition and other organizations are all mobilizing for a large turnout to this key hearing in the House Transportation Policy and Finance Committee. This is the first hearing in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, so immigrant rights movement leaders are prepared for a more difficult battle there, but confident that with mass mobilization victory is possible. If the bill passes the House and Senate transportation committees, there would be at least one more committee hearing before the bill would reach the full House and Senate for a vote and then be sent to Governor Mark Dayton.

#SaintPaulMN #driversLicence #OneStateOneLicenseCoalition

Saint Paul, MN – Chanting “What do we want? A license! When do we want it? Now!” more than 60 immigrant rights activists protested at the State Capitol on the opening day of the 2015 legislative session. They demanded that legislators pass a bill this year to give immigrants who live in Minnesota equal rights to get a drivers license like all other Minnesotans.

The protest was organized by the new One State One License Coalition, which includes organizations, unions and community members.

The group rallied outside on the Capitol steps, braving below-zero temperatures. Representative Karen Clark spoke to the protesters. Clark has championed the drivers license bill since 2009, and she thanked the protesters for being there and pledged to push to pass a bill this year for an unmarked drivers license. Other speakers included Maria Cisneros, one of the initiators of the Minnesota drivers license campaign in 2008; Luis Candela, who spoke about families that need to drive their children for medical appointments and emergencies; and Florencio Campos, a leader in the drivers license campaign.

When the outdoor rally finished, the protesters moved inside the capitol where they marched silently with fists raised, stopping in front of the House and Senate chambers.

Before the protest, members of the One State One License Coalition also talked to legislators about the need to pass a drivers license bill this year. Another group, Mesa Latina, also lobbied for drivers licenses on the opening day of the session.

The movement for drivers licenses in Minnesota is part of a nationwide movement demanding that states allow immigrants to get drivers licenses so they can drive without fear of harassment, arrest and deportation. While President Obama’s recent immigration executive action will help some people avoid deportation, those people are only protected temporarily and there are still an estimated 7 million people who won’t be covered at all. They will still be at risk of arrest and deportation every time they drive to work or to pick their children up from school. So struggles for drivers licenses at the state level are continuing. Recently there have been successes in several states including a huge victory in California, which just started issuing drivers licenses to immigrants this week after a years-long struggle there.

The question of whether to accept a ‘marked’ drivers license that’s significantly different than the license everyone else has emerged as a point of controversy in many states. Immigrant rights activists are having to struggle with resistant state legislators and federal Homeland Security officials. This controversy played out in California over the past year where activists struggled against proposals to make immigrants’ licenses a different color, and also struggled over whether to have a marking on the front or the back of the license which reads, “This card is not acceptable for official federal purposes.” During this controversy in California, State Sen. Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles) spoke out in the media against these markings saying, “covering the fronts of licenses with this information that Homeland Security is demanding would subject the holders to unnecessary discrimination and possible harassment.”

Other states debating drivers licenses for immigrants have also proposed substantially different licenses for immigrants, like in North Carolina where politicians proposed to add the words “No Lawful Status” in red on immigrants’ licenses, and in Alabama where officials proposed marking the licenses with “FN” for Foreign National.

The original Minnesota drivers license bill introduced in 2009 called for an unmarked drivers license, but the version of the bill that almost passed last year had been amended to be a drivers license that would be marked.

Immigrant rights activists have cautioned that police and other institutions could use such marked licenses to identify people’s immigration status and possibly use it against them. According to Marco Cruz Blanco, a member of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), “More than a driver's license to secure our roads, having an unmarked form of identification empowers individuals of diverse backgrounds to assert their cultural and ethnic identity against a system that too often racially profiles, resulting in unjust arrests or even deportation.”

In summing up the day, Florencio Campos of MIRAC said, “this protest helped kick off our work this year at the legislature. We let them know we are demanding an unmarked drivers license like any other Minnesota resident has. We’re working to make our communities and families more secure.”

#SaintPaulMN #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #OneStateOneLicenseCoalition