States move to aid immigrants
Bills on tap would protect driver’s licenses, other benefits
State lawmakers across the country are weighing a host of bills aimed at preserving driver’s licenses and other benefits for undocumented immigrants who may lose the protected status long afforded them by the federal government.
Immigrants from Central America, Haiti and Sudan will see their temporary protected status expire over the next 18 months, while the fate of 690,000 participants in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program remains deeply uncertain after bills to protect “dreamers” failed in Congress this week.
Participants in either DACA or TPS generally qualified for driver’s licenses and in-state college tuition even in states where those privileges are otherwise unavailable to undocumented immigrants. Now, with the programs in jeopardy, lawmakers in about a dozen states are arguing that those immigrants should not be pushed into a shadow economy after living in the United States for decades.
“Because of the change in national rhetoric, it’s going to be a really interesting year at the state level, in terms of how states are going to portray themselves as welcoming or not welcoming to certain immigrant populations,” said Ann Morse, who oversees an immigration project at the National Conference of State Legislatures. “There is a real public debate going on that is just getting started.”
Some jurisdictions, including Maryland and the District of Columbia, already provide driver’s licenses and in-state tuition rates to undocumented immigrants who don’t have federal protections but are longtime residents.
In other states, the attempted local “fixes” to President Donald Trump’s hardened immigration policies vary in ambition. Some stand little chance of passing in Republican-controlled legislatures, while others are driven by Democrats who are in the majority in their statehouses and are seeking to create safe havens.
In Iowa, Democrats are pushing a Dream Act that would allow in-state college tuition for undocumented immigrants, similar to laws that already exist in Maryland, California and Illinois.
In New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, issued an executive order last month preserving driver’s licenses for DACA recipients whose protections expire, while legislation in the state Assembly seeks to keep driving privileges and state-funded Medicaid benefits for immigrants from Central America, Haiti and Sudan who had been granted TPS.
Maryland’s General Assembly is considering a bill that would make it easier for people who benefited from DACA or TPS but haven’t lived in the state long to take advantage of the state’s Dream Act.
Democrats in Virginia introduced three bills seeking to preserve driver’s licenses and in-state tuition for those populations, though Republicans in control of the General Assembly did not let the bills out of committee.
“We want productive people who are putting forward benefits to the Commonwealth,” said Del. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, who sponsored an in-state tuition bill aimed at DACA recipients and argued the bills will help Virginia businesses fill jobs. “This legislation would just make it better for everybody.”
Immigrant advocates say the White House’s tougher stance on immigration has sown fear across the country, even as recent federal court rulings have forced the federal government to continue renewing DACA work authorizations. With proposals to legalize dreamers failing in Congress on Thursday, state officials and advocates are bracing for a surge of immigrants vulnerable to deportation in their midst.
In California, which last fall passed a law to become a “sanctuary state,” officials are allocating portions of $45 million in annual immigrationrelated funding for legal assistance to people fighting to remain the country and to help DACA recipients apply to renew their status.
“The vision that’s been pursued in California is one of inclusivity, where we’re making sure that immigrants remain part of our state and are eligible to work here and contribute,” said Layla Razavi, policy director at the California Immigrant Policy Center.