Yaccarino Opposes Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants
Last week the Connecticut House of Representatives passed a controversial measure that will require the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide valid driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants living in Connecticut.
For a number of reasons, I could not support this legislation.
I understand and I am sympathetic to the fact that there are many undocumented immigrants in this country who are hard-working, law-abiding and even tax paying individuals. The path to citizenship for these individuals is cumbersome, perhaps too burdensome, but fixing those flaws is a job for the federal government. The result of this law will be to legitimize activity that breaks federal law.
There is also too much we don’t know about the real-world application of this bill. The legislation was rushed and is full of flaws that were discovered during debate on the floor of the House of Representatives. For example, one need only live in this country for 90 days to be eligible for a license. That could have serious unintended consequences.
To help work on this issue I joined my colleagues in supporting an amendment that would perform a study of how this law will logistically be enforced and how it will affect existing state, local and federal law. Seven of the eleven states that passed similar laws have repealed them, a fact that should raise red flags for us. We should be sure this law is even workable prior to passage. On the morning of the vote, it was a bipartisan amendment; however, when the vote was taken it failed largely along party lines.
One of the aforementioned flaws uncovered during debate relates to the background check. To be eligible for a license, undocumented immigrants must undergo a background check- if it reveals a felony conviction then the individual is not eligible. Makes sense; however, the background check is only done for Connecticut. In other words, if the same individual has a clean record in state but a felony conviction out of state, that person would be eligible for a license. We tried to offer an amendment to fix this nonsensical portion of the bill, but the amendment failed.
Our country would not be what it is today without immigrants. There is no denying that. But a law that flies in the face of federal law should be legislated much more carefully and thoughtfully than was done in this instance.
State Representative Dave Yaccarino represents North Haven in the Connecticut General Assembly’s 87th District