Massachusetts voters will decide whether or not to approve a law allowing eligible residents to apply for driver’s licenses regardless of their immigration status on Election Day, Nov. 8.
The law on the ballot, The Work and Family Mobility Act, allows for individuals who can prove current residency within Massachusetts but cannot provide proof of lawful presence in the United States to apply for driver’s licenses with documents such as a foreign birth certificate, foreign passport or consular card.
The act was passed by a two-thirds majority in the state Senate despite being vetoed by Gov. Charlie Baker. It was then challenged by a petition from Fair and Secure Massachusetts and made into a referendum, meaning that voters will decide to keep or repeal the law.
State Senator Will Brownsberger said all drivers who pass a driver’s test should be licensed, regardless of immigration status.
“What I believe is that it’s the federal government’s job to determine who’s here and to control our borders,” he said. “Our job is to make sure that our roads are safe … I don’t think it’s the state’s job to decide who’s here in Massachusetts, we can’t control that. But if people are here, and then they pass the test, then they should get a license.”
He also explained how this measure can improve road safety by encouraging people to learn through official channels.
“I want anybody who’s driving in this state to go through driver’s education, to get a learner’s permit, to learn to drive properly, to understand the rules of the road and get a license once they’ve passed all those tests, like all of us have to do,” Brownsberger said.
Boston City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune said “everyone wins” under this new law.
“Ensuring that all immigrants and all drivers on the road have licenses makes the road safer for everyone involved,” she said.
She explained how people will feel much safer to drive when they have a license.
“You’re going to see people who are here already … being able to access city services, being able to use their license to drive and to go to the grocery store and not have a sense of fear, to drop their kids off at school,” Louijeune said. “So all you’re doing is you’re bringing more people into the body politic.”
Shari Rendall, state and local engagement director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform — an immigration-reduction advocacy group — said FAIR opposes the law because it poses “a national security and public safety risk.”
“I do not believe giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens or those who have entered the country illegally makes roads safer,” Rendall said. “You don’t lower standards for driver’s licenses.”
A study from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, updated in 2021, showed that after allowing undocumented immigrants drivers licenses the rate of hit-and-run accidents in Connecticut and California decreased by almost 10%.
The same study from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center showed that New Mexico and Utah saw drastic decreases in their numbers of uninsured drivers after implementing laws that were similar to the Work and Family Mobility Act, 60% and 80% respectively.
Rendall said the law “rewards people who come into the country illegally.”
“It undermines federal immigration law,” she said. “When somebody comes here and enters the country illegally, they have not gone through any kind of interview process they have not … crossed through our proper channels.”
Brownsberger, on the other hand, said he doesn’t believe this law will incentivize illegal immigration.
“People have much more powerful reasons to immigrate,” he said. “People are starving, people are getting shot at, people are fleeing from desperate situations. Whether or not they can get a driver’s license in Massachusetts is just not going to determine whether they’ll make the decision to immigrate. It’s completely irrelevant.”
Rendall also said she thinks there’s a “real possibility” this law will allow for voter fraud.
Brownsberger, however, explained being able to vote does not rely on or require having a driver’s license but is rather “on the basis of being a citizen.”
“If they don’t have citizenship and that’s known at the time that they tried to register to vote… They’re not going to be invited to register,” Brownsberger said.
Gubernatorial candidates Maura Healey and Geoff Diehl were asked about their stances on the law in an Oct.12 televised debate.
“We have an immigration crisis at our southern border, we’re seeing people pour into the country…and so when you add driver’s licenses to people who are here illegally you are now incentivizing [it],” Diehl said.
Healey responded by saying that the policy would act as a safety measure.
“As a fundamental matter, you want to know who is actually driving on our roads,” Healey said. “You want to know that they’ve received instruction and training through a driver’s ed program.”
If approved, this law would take effect on July 1, 2023 and would make Massachusetts the 18th state to institute a law of this nature.
