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

St. Paul, MN – In a packed hearing room, more than a dozen legislators heard testimony March 14 on proposed legislation to put a moratorium on home foreclosures and the eviction of tenants from foreclosed properties. Representative Karen Clark and Senator Scott Dibble, authors of the ‘Foreclosure Moratorium, Neighborhood Stabilization & Tenant Protection Bill’ (SF1521 and HF1886) chaired the hearing. The moratorium bill is an initiative of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout (MCPBO).

Those testifying at the hearing included Cherrene Horazuk, Chief Steward of AFSCME Local 3800, Peter Brown of the Minnesota Tenants Union, Angel Buechner of the Welfare Rights Committee, Anthony Newby of Occupy Homes, Mel Reeves of Occupy the Hood and homeowners who have or are currently facing foreclosure, including Rosemary Williams, Bobby Hull, Ruby Brown, Peter Eisert and John Vinge.

Deb Konechne, a spokesperson for the MCPBO, testified, “This bill, which has been introduced in the House and the Senate, would place a 2-year moratorium on home foreclosures and a 2-year moratorium on the foreclosure related eviction of renters from foreclosed property.”

She added, “This bill is a plan to keep Minnesotans in our homes. It also protects renters who too many times end up paying rent and a damage deposit without knowing the property is in foreclosure, only to be evicted through no fault of their own, only a few months later.”

Rosemary Williams recounted her dramatic fight to keep her home. She said that when sheriffs evicted her and her family from her home in 2009, the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout helped move her back in. William’s called for politicians to pass the moratorium law.

To date, Republican committee chairs have refused to hear the Moratorium Bill. “Today’s people’s hearing served notice on them. We will carry forward the fight for a moratorium on foreclosures. We will continue to challenge politicians that serve the banks and big business,” stated Mick Kelly of the MCPBO.

Stacey Kemp, a Minneapolis homeowner gave her take on the hearing, stating “Stopping foreclosures means keeping our neighborhoods healthy and strong. The unemployment and underemployment rate has been bordering on 20% for a very long time. Working families that have been the core of our neighborhoods and communities are losing their homes because of an economic crisis caused by the 1%. I support this public hearing to demand that the legislators protect our interests – not those of the privileged few.”

Video from the press conference preceding the people's hearing on the foreclosure & eviction moratoriumDeb KonechneRosemary Williams

#SaintPaulMN #MinnesotaCoalitionForAPeoplesBailout #RosemaryWilliams #HousingStruggles #DebKonechne #Foreclosure #Eviction #Moratorium #KarenClark #ScottDibble