Illegal Immigrants Rally At Michigan State Capitol To Demand Driver’s Licenses
A group of illegal immigrants gathered at the Michigan state Capitol building earlier this week to demand that lawmakers push through legislation allowing them to obtain driver’s licenses.
The rally took place just outside the Michigan House floor on Wednesday as illegal immigrants chanted in Spanish and English, “What do we want? Driver’s Licenses! When do we want them? Now!” The rally was in support of Democrat-backed legislation, which is currently stuck in committees, that would grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, The Midwesterner reported.
Currently: Rally for access to driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants in Michigan outside the House floorhttps://t.co/5uRR6STRQq pic.twitter.com/FL2I0I2Os4
— Anna Liz Nichols (@annaliznichols) May 1, 2024
The state House and Senate legislation, known as the Drive SAFE package, was co-sponsored in the House by Democrat Majority Floor Leader Abraham Aiyash and introduced in the Senate by Democrat Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, among others. Advocates of the legislation argue that illegal immigrants need access to driver’s licenses so they can get jobs in the state.
Last year, Aiyash said the Drive SAFE package “will finally allow all Michiganders to engage in our economy, have access to basic freedoms, and do so with the guarantee of safety.”
“If you live in Michigan and have proven you can be a responsible driver, you should be able to obtain a license, regardless of your immigration status,” Aiyash added. “The safety of our residents should not depend on whether the federal government has figured out our broken immigration system.”
After Democrats took control of the Michigan legislature following the 2022 midterm elections, the progressive advocacy group Forge boasted last year that the “electoral organizing” of those in the state illegally “tipped the scale of power in the 38th and 103rd districts, providing Democrats with a slim, one-seat majority in the House, flipping the seats that flipped the legislature,” The Midwesterner reported. Forge said that was “instrumental for changing the playing field and creating a pathway for the Drive SAFE bills to finally become law.”
From 1995 through 2008, illegal immigrants in Michigan could obtain driver’s licenses thanks to former Democratic Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley, who issued an opinion supporting illegal immigrants getting driver’s licenses, according to Michigan Advance. That opinion, however, was reversed by former Republican Attorney General Michael Cox.
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Illegal immigration has become a major issue in Michigan, an important battleground state in the 2024 presidential election. Earlier this year, a once-deported illegal immigrant was charged with the murder of 25-year-old Grand Rapids resident Ruby Garcia. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that Brandon Ortiz-Vite was deported under the Trump administration but illegally re-entered the country “at an unknown date.”
