The bill would not have allowed DACA recipients to have a permanent driver’s license. DACA itself is only a two-year temporary ‘fix’ and recipients are required to reapply and pay new fees to have the temporary two-year DACA-status. HB 235 would act in the same manner; DACA recipients would have to start the process all over again (fees included) every two years. However, this will still benefit a large portion of the undocumented.

Driver's licenses for the undocumented provide many benefits. The main reason is that it allows travel to drive to work, school, the hospital or anywhere else without the fear of being pulled over by the police. In many places the police put up stop points to target the undocumented for arrests. Being targeted by the police and ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement), the undocumented can face anything from fines and arrests to deportations. In fact, many of the deportations result from driving without a license. For those who are not deported, and are arrested, they will have a much harder time gaining legal status as well as citizenship. On top of this, a license will help the undocumented with employment. As it stands now, without a license, the undocumented are exploited at the workplace in terms of harassment, wage theft and in some cases, slavery. Having a license and documentation, even in a small form, would help to provide more opportunities for employment and limit random immigrant searches.

Governor Scott, like most of the right wing, does not want undocumented people to obtain legal status. In fact, upon entering office, Scott wanted to pass laws similar to Arizona's racist SB1070.

For now, groups around Florida have been planning press conferences and actions to demand licenses for all undocumented immigrants. In Tampa, Dream Defenders is planning a press conference and action within the next few days. Dream Defenders has been demanding that driver’s licenses be extended to all 1.5 million undocumented in the state of Florida. They have started a petition while pressuring their city council to pass a resolution in support.

Sign here: https://www.change.org/petitions/support-licenses-for-all-undocumented-immigrants-in-the-state-of-florida

#TallahasseeFL #driversLicense #GovernorRickScott #immigrationRights #legalizationForAll

Tampa, FL – Activists came together here, March 29, to announce a campaign under the demand “Licenses for All” undocumented people in Florida. Members of Dream Defenders, Hondurenos Unidos en Tampa, Mexican American Student Association (MASA), and Latin American Student Association (LASA) at the University of South Florida will be pushing the Tampa City Council to allow drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants. The number of undocumented immigrants in Florida is estimated to be 1 million people. Many of the undocumented end up being deported after being pulled over from driving without a license.

The activists met at El Rincon Catracho, a Honduran restaurant in the heart of the Latino community in Tampa, where they announced to the media that they would be kicking off this campaign and urged others to join them.

Maritza Jaramillo of Dream Defenders talked about ways the undocumented are exploited because they do not have citizenship. She said, “My family left their homelands in hopes of working towards a better future, as any other might aspire to do. We are calling for a simple step to help our immigrant families: Licenses for all!”

The next day, Dream Defenders hosted a party at the restaurant. Members of the community joined with activists demanding Legalization for All, and a campaign demanding drivers licenses for the undocumented. From there, they partied with DJ Collective and Evolucion Musikal, a Central American band.

Within a half an hour of the music starting, the police showed up saying it was too loud. The owner explained to the police that the American club next door plays all the time and never got complaints. The police became even more forceful and came into the restaurant to make the musicians turn down the music. Many people concluded that the music was being shut down because it was Latino.

After many announcements and some dancing, members of Dream Defenders spoke to the crowd. Marisol Marquez said, “Seeing as how the majority of deportations are a direct result of being caught driving without a license, licenses for all undocumented immigrants would be a tremendous help. And with that, on April 18 again we invite you and everyone you know to join us at City Hall at 9:00 a.m. to force this on the agenda and later that day at 6:30 p.m. we will rally to demand ‘Drivers Licenses for All!’”

#TampaFL #immigrantRights #driversLicense #DreamDefenders #legalizationForAll

Saint Paul, MN – On March 10, a bill that would allow immigrants to get drivers licenses in Minnesota passed its first hurdle in a key vote. By a vote of 8-5-1, the “drivers license for all” bill, HF1718, passed the House Transportation and Transit Policy and Oversight Committee.

According to Jovita from Mujeres en Liderazgo (Women in Leadership), the group leading the campaign, “This was a victory.” More than 60 Latino immigrants and immigrant rights supporters packed the committee hearing room at the State Capitol to pressure the committee to support the bill. They held signs that read, “Drivers licenses for all!” Jovita noted, “Many people came to the hearing – families, mothers, some with kids – and we told the legislators about our experiences and about the importance of public safety. The community presence at the hearing was important.” The large community presence and the testimony of immigrant women and supporters of the bill clearly made an impression on the committee members.

The drivers license bill would change Minnesota law to allow anyone who lives in the state to apply for a drivers license, regardless of immigration status. Currently in Minnesota, state residents have to prove their immigration status to get a drivers license; it is not considered enough to live, work and pay taxes in the state. This creates a huge hardship and constant fear among immigrant workers, who are mostly forced to drive to work due to inadequate public transportation, and then face increased chances of being stopped due to racial profiling. Without a drivers license, immigrants who get stopped while driving risk getting their car impounded and have to pay a huge fine to get it back. They also get a ticket and sometimes are taken to jail with the threat of deportation. Additionally, it is a public safety issue since drivers without a license cannot get car insurance.

Two Republicans on the committee were vocal in opposing the bill. Rep. Mary Holberg ® raised the specter of identity theft and invoked the threat of terrorism and 911. Rep. Greg Davids ® called on Patricia McCormack, the Director of Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services Division to testify whether her agency would support or oppose this bill. After repeated pressing, she said she would oppose the bill, because they can't be sure that passports from other countries have enough 'security features' to be legitimate identity documents. One person present at the hearing commented that, “Considering that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] accepts foreign passports as legitimate identity documents for people immigrating to the United States, it doesn't make sense that the Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services Division would require a higher level of security than ICE.” Opponents of the bill tried to associate the drivers license bill with unrelated issues. But the women from Mujeres en Liderazgo and attorney Bruce Nestor focused in their testimony on the daily difficulty in the lives of people who live in Minnesota without access to a drivers license, and on the public safety issue of unlicensed drivers not being allowed to get insurance.

This is the first time in about a decade that the immigrant community in Minnesota has pushed the legislature for the right to a drivers license, signaling an increasing confidence in the struggle for equal rights. After the committee voted to pass the bill, supporters met in the hallway to celebrate and plan their next moves as the bill moves on to a maze of committees in both the House and the Senate.

#StPaulMN #ChicanoLatino #driversLicense #MujeresEnLiderazgoWomenInLeadership

A bill has been introduced in the state legislature, House File 1718, which will have its first hearing on March 10. Mujeres en Liderazgo has built a coalition to support the bill, along with various other immigrant rights activists and supporters. They are mobilizing to go the capitol to show the massive community support for the bill at the March 10 hearing.

According to Jovita, an organizer of Mujeres en Liderazgo and also a member of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition (MIRAc), “We are organizing for drivers licenses because it's an important need for our community. When we started, we did a survey in the community and the majority of people said this was a big need. So many people are stopped by the police while driving, and since they don't have a license they get their car impounded and have to pay a huge fine to get it back. They also get a ticket, and sometimes are taken to jail. The majority of immigrants work far away so if they lose their car they can't get to work and also lose their job. People drive with the constant fear of losing their car, or of getting taking to jail and having their family separated.”

Immigrant workers in the Twin Cities are largely forced to drive to work because many work evening and overnight shift jobs, when there are no buses or trains running. Many immigrants also work in suburbs that aren't accessible by public transit in jobs like construction, hotels, restaurants, office and retail cleaning, warehouses and small factories. Additionally, the number of immigrants living in greater Minnesota in smaller towns has skyrocketed. Many small towns have little or no public transit, forcing immigrants who live in greater Minnesota to drive to get to work too.

Racial profiling and discrimination makes the situation worse. Police frequently pull over Latino drivers because of racial profiling, not because they've done anything wrong. According to an ACLU report, a statewide racial profiling study commissioned by the Minnesota legislature “found significant evidence of racial profiling in traffic stops across the state. According to the study, African American, Latino and American Indian drivers were all stopped and searched by law enforcement at greater rates than white drivers, though contraband was found more frequently among white drivers.”

States are not forced to restrict drivers licenses to only U.S. citizens by federal law; each state sets its own policies for issuing drivers licenses. A number of states only require proof that the individual lives in the state to get a drivers license. Immigrants who drive without a drivers license have not had the opportunity to take the drivers test and officially learn the rules of the road in the state. And without a drivers license they can't get car insurance either.

The House hearing for the drivers license bill on March 10 is the first step the drivers license bill takes toward becoming state law. It faces many more obstacles because powerful politicians in the state oppose any immigrant rights proposal. But Mujeres en Liderazgo is committed to continuing the struggle until victory. According to Jovita, “We will do it. We have to keep pressuring the legislators, keep struggling. There are examples that have passed here like the separation ordinance. And there is the struggle for the Dream Act too, and other fights for equality that have gone on for years. We will see change.”

To find out more about the 'Drivers Licenses for All' campaign, see the MIRAc website: http://mirac1.wordpress.com

#SaintPaulMN #MIRAc #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCoalition #driversLicense #MujeresEnLiderazgo #WomenInLeadership