Driver’s licenses for all

This is when having a Social Security number became necessary to acquire a driver’s license. This went against immigrants, no matter who they were and how much they contributed to the prosperity of this nation. After the attacks, the measures, intended to have more control, were also marred by a generalized paranoia against “the other.”

When I first arrived in Minnesota in 1998, the state allowed driver’s licenses for all. Then in 2003, Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed an executive order imposing the Social Security requirement to renew a driver’s license or apply for a new one.

Many of the immigrants who had their right to a driver’s license removed had been living in the U.S. for many decades, with children born in the country and after many years paying taxes, maintaining their auto insurance and contributing to the economy through their hard work.

There are a number of former doctors, electricians, nurses, teachers, accountants, and others cleaning floors and hotels in Northfield and around the country; people who left their own country’s poor economy and, for some, escaped political prosecution and threats from drug cartels or human traffickers. Despite their hard work and many years of sacrifice, they are deprived of a driver’s license.

The fight to restore the right to acquire a driver’s licenses started shortly after Gov. Pawlenty’s executive order. Over two decades of organizing, petitioning to legislators, hearings, approval of bills at the Senate some years and at the House others, the most recent in 2019 in the House, the movement continued without the final victory. The effort in Northfield was spearheaded by Lucy González and me, as part of our work on the Northfield Human Rights Commission. We succeeded in having the commission and the City Council approve a resolution of support in 2019. A new resolution from the Human Rights Commission and already sent to the Senate and the House, will, hopefully, also be approved by the City Council.

With Democrats in control of the three branches of government, the bill is moving quickly through several committees. Although we shouldn’t forget Democrats had their chance in the past and missed it and Republicans didn’t do it either. These committees have heard emotional testimonies from families describing their fear of driving unlicensed, of traffic stops that can lead to deportation, mothers walking their sick kids to the emergency room in the cold.

No matter your stance on immigration, all drivers should have a driver’s license. It is simply not safe for Minnesota to continue this way. It is the right thing to do, and this is why so many police departments, sheriffs, business associations, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and countless residents support this bill. 2023 could be the year Minnesota restores the driver’s licenses to all.