Republicans CAN support drivers licenses for the undocumented

Let's Drive NJ Action Center

I post the letters I send to my legislators here to make a case, and hope that others will share this and similarly make the case to their elected representatives.

And I also challenge our Republican legislators in Trenton to, well, surprise us. Wouldn't you just once like to take a counter-intuitive stand on an issue that demonstrates unity with others who value America, and who would benefit by some display of compassion and solidarity?

Next week the NJ Assembly Judiciary Committee will consider bill A-4743 to expand access to driver's licenses to undocumented residents - some of whom, I presume, are my neighbors. My understanding is my Assemblyman, Michael Patrick Carroll, doesn't consider such persons to be his constituents, which is understandable I suppose. But as they are my (and his) neighbors, we should at least hear their side.

Of course, the main considerations for providing limited drivers licenses to the undocumented are merely practical:

1. NJ would become the 13th state to allow all its residents to apply for limited driver’s licenses, regardless of their immigration status. Based on the experience of the three states with the longest-standing policies similar to the one being proposed in New Jersey, we could anticipate an overall decrease in fatal accidents. 
2. In total, about 466,000 New Jersey undocumented immigrants are of driving age and would be eligible for a license. Assuming half of them would receive a license within the first three years of implementation, that 3.8% increase in the total number of licensed drivers in the state would likely collect $11.7 million in license fees and $2.3 million in one-time fees for driving permits. 
3. Allowing all New Jerseyans who can prove their identity and in-state residence to be trained, licensed, and insured would make the state safer, because these people would now be accountable for their driving record. 

Passing this legislation would increase public safety, help the state’s economy and improve the well-being of all families – particularly the hundreds of thousands who would be newly allowed to drive legally. But no amount of practical considerations will sway most Republicans on this issue, because we claim to be the party that stands on the rule of law, and we can't be seen providing benefits to undocumented residents who are not here legally. But let me tell you about my neighbors.

I don't know how all of my neighbors happened to become, well, my neighbors. I do know them to be like me in that they tend to be hard-working, and motivated by a desire to raise their families in peace and safety. As such, they have to get to work, get the kids to school and their doctor appointments, do the grocery shopping . . . basically, concern themselves with the same daily rituals that I do. They all have their own stories, as do I; but they have come to be my neighbor for the same reasons and opportunities that I have become theirs. Other than their status, I know them to be law-abiding; I don't lose any sleep for them being my neighbor.

On the contrary, I am proud to live in a society where we all value the safety, freedoms and opportunities it provides me and my family. I came of age politically in the 1980s, when we Republicans were routinely mocked for referring to America as that "shining city on a hill," for touting "family values," and aspiring to become a "kinder, gentler nation." Some would suggest now that those words were meant only to apply to us, the ones who happened to be here already, because our ancestors wanted to raise their families in safety and with opportunity, too. But I don't remember those being the conditions when I found common ground with the Republican party.

In fact, the Republican who won me over granted amnesty to 2.7 million undocumented immigrants with the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. Upon leaving office three years later, he spoke, well, lovingly of immigrants in his January 1989 farewell speech to the American people:

This I believe is one of the most important sources of America’s greatness. We lead the world because unique among nations, we draw our people, our strength, from every country and every corner of the world … Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge; always leading the world to the next frontier. 

Ronald Reagan could have said "each documented wave of new arrivals," but he didn't. Instead of focusing on the "rule of law," he focused on what we all share in common: enough love for the country that we want to make it, and keep it, our home.

And for that common love of our country, I ask that my Republican state legislators support the bill to extend the dignity of a driver's licenses to my neighbors.