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Support Provisional Driver's Licenses For Undocumented Immigrants

The Problem

Undocumented immigrants in our state lack access to Minnesota driver's licenses. Many of our immigrant brothers and sisters are then 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 are forced to choose between, for example, driving their child to the doctor and risking arrest for driving without a license. Families want to safely drive to Sunday Mass, the grocery store, take their children to school, 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 provisional drivers' licenses promotes public safety by having more licensed drivers on the road, who, studies have shown, 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 are here to stay and 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

USCCB Committee on Migration

Watch Archbishop Hebda's testimony in support of this bill

Support Provisional Driver's Licenses For Undocumented Immigrants

The Problem

Undocumented immigrants in our state lack access to Minnesota driver's licenses. Many of our immigrant brothers and sisters are then 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 are forced to choose between, for example, driving their child to the doctor and risking arrest for driving without a license. Families want to safely drive to Sunday Mass, the grocery store, take their children to school, 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 provisional drivers' licenses promotes public safety by having more licensed drivers on the road, who, studies have shown, 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 are here to stay and 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

USCCB Committee on Migration

Watch Archbishop Hebda's testimony in support of this bill