Many of our immigrant sisters and brothers, including fellow union members, workers, and neighbors, live under constant threat of detention, deportation, and family separation. Just driving to work, dropping their children at school, or running errands places immigrant families at risk of being arrested and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
That is why the Western Mass Area Labor Federation decided last year to endorse H.3012/S.2061, the Massachusetts Work and Family Mobility Act. The bill would grant the basic right to obtain drivers’ licenses to all qualified applicants regardless of immigration status. The bill has wide support from many labor unions including the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, state and local politicians, and many in our law enforcement community, including Franklin County Sheriff Christopher Donelan. We are excited that the bill was voted favorably out of the Joint Committee on Transportation and is ready to be brought to the House floor for a vote.
However, we are concerned by Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood and Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno’s recent statements opposing the bill. Their press release played on unsubstantiated and racially charged fears that this law would make our communities less safe. In fact, other states that have expanded access to drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants have seen improved traffic safety and a positive impact on their state economy through expanded revenues.
In the first two years of the Trump administration, ICE arrests of people with no criminal convictions more than tripled. A major driver of this spike was a five-fold increase in arrests of immigrants who had been charged with an offense but not yet convicted. The most common charges are traffic offenses. The Work and Family Mobility Act would help reduce the impact of Trump’s racist deportation agenda on Massachusetts families, while making our roads and communities safer by ensuring that drivers are tested and insured. Fourteen other states, including New York, Vermont, and Connecticut, already allow residents to apply for drivers’ licenses regardless of immigration status. It’s time for Massachusetts to follow suit.
Immigrant families in Massachusetts are a vital part of the social and economic fabric of our unions, our schools, and our workforce. Our immigrant sisters and brothers should not have to worry about being detained and deported every time they get behind the wheel to go to work or drop their kids off at school. If we are to resist the race to the bottom that business is waging against working people, we must stand in solidarity and resist efforts by the powerful to divide us. That means fighting for the basic rights of all people, regardless of their race, religion, or immigration status.
The Western Mass Area Labor Federation calls on our state and local elected leaders to endorse this bill and push for it to be brought to the floor for a vote as soon as possible. We strongly urge Commissioner Clapprood and Mayor Sarno to reconsider their opposition to it and to cease their racially-coded fearmongering. We call on all Massachusetts residents to contact your state legislators and urge them to vote yes on the Work and Family Mobility Act. You can find your legislators here.
Lydia Wood is a field organizer with the Western Mass Area Labor Federation.