Wisconsin Driving Cards for Immigrants
Last week I attended a public information forum on “Safe Roads, Safe Communities” at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Altoona. The forum was the fifth of a series of statewide forums coordinated by the Wisconsin Coalition for Safe Roads regarding issuing driving cards to people who do not have a social security number. The Coalition for Safe Roads supports access to driving cards to improve road safety by ensuring more drivers are tested, licensed, and insured.
As proposed in 2010 legislation introduced in the Wisconsin Assembly, driving cards could only be used for driving and obtaining car insurance, and could not be used for federal identification purposes.
The proposed legislation AB 777 would have required applicants to:
- Pass all standard drivers license requirements
- Provide proof of residency in Wisconsin for at least 6 months
- Provide a valid IRSIndividual Taxpayer Identification Number, and
- Pay the applicable state license fee
The proposed legislation died with the end of the 2009-2010 session, but may be reintroduced in the 2011-2012 session.
Allowing Wisconsin driving cards has broad support from a wide range of law enforcement, economic development, agriculture and dairy business, organized labor, faith based, and Latino immigrant advocacy organizations. At the same time any future legislative proposal to allow driving cards for immigrants will evoke strong opposition. Anti-immigration protests seem to be part of our nation’s DNA, dating back well before the anti-immigrant and anti-Roman Catholic Know Nothing political party of the mid 19th century.
Immigration reform in the 21st century is certainly a complex public policy question, with many alternative and competing choices. Even sorting out the much narrower policy issue of drivers cards will be challenging. In the instance of drivers cards, however, I think that where one comes down on the issue may depend on one’s core values as much as anything else.
As I was sitting in St Mary’s last Thursday, listening to people talk about the plight of immigrant families in our community and the need we all share for safe roads, I tried to sort out the myriad economic, social, and legislative implications posed by the issues. How do I decide what I’m for or against? How do I decide what I think is the right thing to do?
Then I reflected on core values about the importance of loving mercy, doing justice, and seeing to the needs of the homeless, poor, imprisoned, and strangers in our midst. And the way seemed clear. Understanding how to pass effective legislation in Wisconsin on this issue may be difficult; understanding why will not.