Drivers licenses — a rallying cry for immigrants
Written by Catalina Adorno
What does it take to build a movement of undocumented immigrant workers? Right now, its a fight for drivers licenses. Undocumented immigrants across the United States are currently uniting around a demand based on a need they experience everyday: to drive without fear.
It is not a surprise to anyone who has been the following the news and the issue of immigration to know that detention of undocumented immigrants in the United States has spiked in the last 2 years.
Workplace raids, as well as people being detained randomly in the streets, have once again become common. One way in which undocumented immigrants begin contact with the process of detention is through driving without proper documentation, in this case, driving without a drivers license. Though experiences of driving without a license vary from political geographical state. In more progressive blue states for example driving without a license can result in tickets and fines. Yet in red states driving without a license can result in immediate arrest and depending on the local counties 287g programs, can result in detention.
The fear of driving without a license is the same across the country. Being stopped while driving without a license, for whatever the reason is, can begin a criminal process that could result in detention and deportation for someone who is undocumented.
This means when undocumented immigrants drive to work, to pick up their children to school, to buy groceries, to go to the doctor, or even to take their families for an enjoyable time, they are doing so knowing they could be deported for driving without a license.
No one deserves to live in fear. Undocumented immigrants deserved to drive without fear. And if that fear can be diminished by simply having a drivers license, then we should fight for a drivers license.
To be clear, a demand for a drivers license is not new. Immigrant rights groups and organizations have build campaigns for drivers licenses in the past. There is a reason why 12 states, and Washington DC currently give drivers licenses to folks, regardless of their legal status. It is also the reason why in states currently holding campaigns for drivers licenses, such as New Jersey, Michigan, and Massachusetts, their campaigns and supporters for those campaigns, are growing and growing.
And it is the reason why newer driver licenses campaign are emerging across the country; the momentum from past and current campaigns is carrying over to support new campaigns. Most importantly, the reason why a fight for drivers licenses is emergent now is because driving is an everyday act and need that is also quite political. Driving without a license is a political act of resistance, though a private resistance. Now that resistance is getting a public platform and amplifying and making public the need that people in our communities have been living and are living everyday.
Furthermore, in terms of the immigrant rights movement, which finds itself fragmented and weak, a fight for drivers licenses could be quite an opportunity to come together and build a base of older immigrant workers, a protagonist that the movement has been lacking for the last decade.
Finally, probably the most important aspect of the fight for drivers licenses is that it is making older immigrants the face of the movement. After almost of decade of undocumented youth having center stage it is about time that undocumented immigrant workers become the leaders of the immigrant rights movement.
Can we win drivers licenses? Conditions are favorable to passing a drivers license legislation exist in certain states. Cosecha, a national movement fighting for permanent protection, dignity, and respect is currently holding drivers licenses campaigns in three states: Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey, all of which have multiple and varied conditions in their favor.
Cosecha is also currently holding driving without fear (Manejando Sin Miedo) campaigns in Georgia and Indiana, that have the potential of also becoming full fledged drivers licenses campaigns.
Yet, further than asking ourselves whether a legislation can be passed (which is an important question because it would alleviate the lives of so many members of our communities), a question that we are prioritizing with Cosecha is, how are these campaigns building people power?
Is it worth it to pass legislation if it does not build people power? The answer is no, simply passing a legislation is not enough if we are trying to build a movement. Passing a drivers license bill is a win, but it is not the only win we are after. We are clear that a win for our movement is based around building the leadership of those who would mostly benefit from a driver license, undocumented immigrants. Are undocumented immigrants developing leadership through these campaigns? Are undocumented immigrants building organization? How can we use these campaigns to build stronger organization whether a licenses bill is passed or not? Those are the questions we are dealing with as we move forward with these campaigns.
In addition to these questions, we know that major challenges are going to come our way, if we are not dealing with them already. From an organizational point, one of the major challenges is grounding our base in the larger mission/vision, strategy and theory of change as campaigns rapidly grow and proposals (where they exist) move through the legislative process. Why? Because for us, a campaign for drivers license, or for the right to drive without fear, are campaigns to build for our larger fight.
That is why our drivers licenses campaigns are guided by certain principles, that include: Licenses Today, Permanent Protection Tomorrow,
We Are Part of a Larger Movement, and
Our Focus is to Build People Power.
Through these principles we are hoping to protect ourselves from falling into the trap that our sole objective is licenses, but are rather building to fight for permanent protection, dignity and respect. Through our principle on being part of a larger movement we acknowledge that Cosecha’s strategy is one strategy among many that are needed to obtain concrete wins for our community. We acknowledge that play a specific role in an ecology of different organizations and nobody can do everything at the same time. As such, we do need folks to do the lobbying, to be helping write the legislation, to be puting inside pressure, because that is needed but it is not our role.
As Cosecha, our role is to work on creating people’s power. We focus on the power of the immigrant worker because the day we decide to stop working, stop buying, stop participating in the current institutions that serve to oppress us everyday, we will win licenses and more — we can win permanent protection.
We have a long way to go in this fight. Yet, each battle can help us to the end point only if we are able to build power through them, actual power. In each action and in each campaign our objective should be to build leadership. We need leaders to carry on this fight. We need leaders to grow the movement.
We need leaders to guide the movement. And at least for now, the campaign for drivers licenses can provide all the conditions to build this leadership; the leadership of undocumented immigrants. We just gotta get it together (ponernos las pilas as some of our Latina moms say) and take advantage o all these opportunities. And along the way, we might be able to get New Jersey, Michigan, and Massachusetts to join the other 12 states in allowing undocumented immigrants to drive without fear, because people will have a license.
