License plan for undocumented drivers slams brakes on accountability

In 1995, more than 130,000 refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina resettled in the United States. Greeting them at ports of entry and at refugee resettlement agencies were scores of specially trained immigration officers, myself included.

Our mission was twofold: expedite resettlement of war victims and stop the bad actors who would take advantage of our nation’s kindness to enter illegally, create false identities, and escape their crimes.

Confirming an immigrant’s identification is no easy task. Who could spot a real or fake foreign birth certificate or passport? Who can stay ahead of forgers as design and print technology evolves?

These questions are worth raising now not only as we prepare to welcome Ukrainian refugees, but also as the state Senate considers legislation to provide Massachusetts driver’s licenses to “persons who do not provide proof of lawful presence.”

The legislation passed the House in February. I agree with Gov. Baker, who has expressed serious concerns about loopholes that enable voter registration by noncitizens. We prefer the current state law which requires “proof of lawful presence.”

If this legislation passes, a driver’s license will be worthless as a reliable form of identification. It will be useless in everything from registering to vote, opening a bank account, buying alcohol or recreational marijuana, using credit cards, enrolling in college and applying for government benefits.

A driver’s license will simply mean the person in the photo is the same person who passed the written and road tests. Maybe. The RMV did recently confess to issuing 2,100 licenses without the road test.

The bill entrusts the RMV with validating the foreign identity documents of illegal immigrant applicants. RMV clerks will be inspecting foreign documents and translations to try to determine the person’s identity. What could possibly go wrong?

Without a hint of irony, this is the same RMV called a “bureaucratic nightmare” and an “all-around calamity” by legislators who support this bill. The sponsors say granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrant will make the roadways safer and lead to fewer hit-andrun accidents. Maybe that’s good for the insurance industry, but it won’t reduce the actual number of accidents, and it opens the door to serious fraud.

As a candidate for state auditor, I’m especially concerned the bill will impede meaningful oversight of the RMV by state auditors or law enforcement. The legislation states, “When processing an application for a

Massachusetts license pursuant to this section the registrar shall not inquire about or create a record of an applicant’s citizenship or immigration status.” Information provided by an applicant would be exempt from disclosure, except “as authorized by regulations promulgated by the attorney general.”

This means there will be no accounting of how many illegal immigrants receive licenses. And it would seem to make it very difficult for the state auditor or law enforcement to review if the RMV was successfully verifying the true identities of applicants or if fraud was occurring. Finally, if RMV employees are unable to question citizenship, it is unclear how non-citizens will be prevented from registering to vote.

As someone who has worked with many refugees and immigrants — both legal and illegal — I am keenly aware of how important a role immigrants have played in our American story. Indeed, few of us can count many generations between ourselves and when our forebears arrived in the United States. Our state government owes to all of its residents the surety of an identification system that is rooted in confidence and integrity.