Urge Your Senator to Support Legislation to Require Non-Citizen Immigrants to Pass a Driving Test and Provide Identification Before Driving on MN Roads
The Problem
Our federal government must fix the broken immigration system, but in the meantime, it is the state's job to ensure our roads are safe.
Law enforcement officers need to be able to identify who is driving on Minnesota's roads, but many non-citizen immigrants in our state drive despite not being licensed. They are not allowed to apply and test for a license because current law requires applicants to show proof of U.S. citizenship instead of another form of government-issued identification. This means many will still drive in order to meet their daily needs, but they've never learned the rules of the road nor passed a Minnesota driving test. When we have drivers on the road who have not learned the rules of the road, public safety suffers. Licensed drivers are less likely to be involved in fatal accidents and are more likely to be insured.
Without the opportunity to access a license, many of our immigrant brothers and sisters are also forced to risk legal action and separation from their families every time they need to drive somewhere to meet their needs and the needs of their families.
Daily, our immigrant brothers and sisters must choose between, for example, driving their child to the doctor and risking arrest for driving without a license. Families want to safely drive to their children to school, to Sunday Mass, to the grocery store, etc. We can help ensure that children are not separated from their parents simply because their parents had to make the difficult decision to drive without a license.
There is also a greater risk to all drivers on the road when unlicensed drivers are behind the wheel. Allowing undocumented persons to obtain nonconforming driver's licenses promotes public safety by having more licensed drivers on the road. Studies have shown that licensed drivers are less likely to be involved in fatal accidents and are also more likely to be insured.
Despite a broken federal immigration system, small changes on the state level enable people to live with dignity rather than in fear of family separation. Immigrants who are here will continue to drive to meet their needs. We can choose to ensure that they know the rules of the road by requiring the passing of a driving test, or we can continue to force them to live in fear in the shadows.
Church Teaching
"The Church supports the human rights of all people and offers them pastoral care, education, and social services, no matter what the circumstances of entry into this country, and it works for the respect of the human dignity of all especially those who find themselves in desperate circumstances." - "Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity", A Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops
"We call upon all people of good will, but Catholics especially, to welcome the newcomers in their neighborhoods and schools, in their places of work and worship, with heartfelt hospitality, openness, and eagerness both to help and to learn from our brothers and sisters of whatever religion, ethnicity, or background." - "Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity", A Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops
"The local people, moreover, especially public authorities, should all treat [immigrants] not as mere tools of production but as persons, and must help them to arrange for their families to live with them and to provide themselves with decent living quarters." - Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes: Pastoral Constitution on the Church (December 7, 1965), no. 66 ( The Documents of Vatican II, ed. Walter M. Abbott, SJ [Chicago: Follett Publishing Co., 1966])
"All people have a right to life and to secure the basic necessities of life (e.g., food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, safe environment, economic security)." - "A Catholic Framework for Economic Life", A Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops
Learn More
One page fact sheet
USCCB Committee on Migration
Watch Archbishop Hebda's testimony in support of this bill
Watch the testimony in support of this bill of a Minnesota mom and DACA recipient
Listen to our Bridge Builder Podcast discussion on this issue
Urge Your Senator to Support Legislation to Require Non-Citizen Immigrants to Pass a Driving Test and Provide Identification Before Driving on MN Roads
The Problem
Our federal government must fix the broken immigration system, but in the meantime, it is the state's job to ensure our roads are safe.
Law enforcement officers need to be able to identify who is driving on Minnesota's roads, but many non-citizen immigrants in our state drive despite not being licensed. They are not allowed to apply and test for a license because current law requires applicants to show proof of U.S. citizenship instead of another form of government-issued identification. This means many will still drive in order to meet their daily needs, but they've never learned the rules of the road nor passed a Minnesota driving test. When we have drivers on the road who have not learned the rules of the road, public safety suffers. Licensed drivers are less likely to be involved in fatal accidents and are more likely to be insured.
Without the opportunity to access a license, many of our immigrant brothers and sisters are also forced to risk legal action and separation from their families every time they need to drive somewhere to meet their needs and the needs of their families.
Daily, our immigrant brothers and sisters must choose between, for example, driving their child to the doctor and risking arrest for driving without a license. Families want to safely drive to their children to school, to Sunday Mass, to the grocery store, etc. We can help ensure that children are not separated from their parents simply because their parents had to make the difficult decision to drive without a license.
There is also a greater risk to all drivers on the road when unlicensed drivers are behind the wheel. Allowing undocumented persons to obtain nonconforming driver's licenses promotes public safety by having more licensed drivers on the road. Studies have shown that licensed drivers are less likely to be involved in fatal accidents and are also more likely to be insured.
Despite a broken federal immigration system, small changes on the state level enable people to live with dignity rather than in fear of family separation. Immigrants who are here will continue to drive to meet their needs. We can choose to ensure that they know the rules of the road by requiring the passing of a driving test, or we can continue to force them to live in fear in the shadows.
Church Teaching
"The Church supports the human rights of all people and offers them pastoral care, education, and social services, no matter what the circumstances of entry into this country, and it works for the respect of the human dignity of all especially those who find themselves in desperate circumstances." - "Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity", A Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops
"We call upon all people of good will, but Catholics especially, to welcome the newcomers in their neighborhoods and schools, in their places of work and worship, with heartfelt hospitality, openness, and eagerness both to help and to learn from our brothers and sisters of whatever religion, ethnicity, or background." - "Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity", A Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops
"The local people, moreover, especially public authorities, should all treat [immigrants] not as mere tools of production but as persons, and must help them to arrange for their families to live with them and to provide themselves with decent living quarters." - Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes: Pastoral Constitution on the Church (December 7, 1965), no. 66 ( The Documents of Vatican II, ed. Walter M. Abbott, SJ [Chicago: Follett Publishing Co., 1966])
"All people have a right to life and to secure the basic necessities of life (e.g., food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, safe environment, economic security)." - "A Catholic Framework for Economic Life", A Statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops
Learn More
One page fact sheet
USCCB Committee on Migration
Watch Archbishop Hebda's testimony in support of this bill
Watch the testimony in support of this bill of a Minnesota mom and DACA recipient
Listen to our Bridge Builder Podcast discussion on this issue