The decision by the state Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee to restrict funding for a program that grants drivers licenses and ID cards to all residents – regardless of immigration status – was a shocking and inappropriate use of budgetary powers to advance partisan positions. And in the end, it is a decision which benefits no one.
Put aside for the moment the debate about whether certain people should be present in the U.S. It is a debate that will never be settled and is ultimately immaterial to the question at hand.
Let’s consider the reality that there are in Colorado somewhere around 150,000 undocumented immigrants who would be eligible for a driver’s license or ID card. Like it or not, they are here, and they are driving.
In our rural communities of Southwest Colorado, public transportation and other forms of getting around are unavailable or unfeasible, and driving a car is an absolute necessity for work, school, medical appointments and (importantly) getting to Denver or Albuquerque for the many appointments required for someone to change his or her immigration status.
Without a license, our friends, neighbors and co-workers are unable to purchase car insurance, register their vehicles in their own names or obtain license plates. The committee’s decision has ensured that Colorado’s roads will be full of unlicensed and uninsured drivers, which puts all of us at risk. It also makes it much harder for law enforcement to perform its duties to serve and protect their communities when people do not have valid identification.
But we already know all of this because we already had this debate in 2013. Both houses of our state Legislature approved Senate Bill 251 with overwhelming support from municipalities, nonprofits and law enforcement agencies across the state.
It is also worth noting that $166,000 of the funds requested by the Department of Revenue were collected through fees charged for the licenses that have already been issued to people unable to demonstrate their lawful presence and are earmarked for the purpose of expanding the program. As defined in the legislation that created the program, it costs the state nothing and is only funded through these fees (which are three times the fees a citizen pays for his or her license.)
What is the objection, then, if it costs nothing and makes the roads safer for all?
One committee member explained his vote by saying he thought that the state was condoning unlawful behavior. In reality, undocumented immigrants are in no way violating the laws of the state of Colorado by being present here. They do violate state law if they drive without licenses or insurance. So by restricting access to licenses – and thus to insurance, license plates and vehicle registration – this decision actually leads to a lot more behavior that is unlawful under state law. And can we really claim that Colorado always ensures its residents always comply with federal law? (Will these same committee members vote to defund marijuana enforcement?)
For several months now, Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center has been assisting local immigrant families as they seek to obtain licenses and ID cards. We have had to travel to Grand Junction because this was the closest of the five motor vehicle offices in the state that offered licenses under this program. This task was in itself difficult to perform, and only 26 people in our region have been able to successfully obtain a license this way.
As things stand now, funding to maintain staff at that location expired Feb. 2, and 150,000 people will have to fight for the 31 appointments offered each day in Denver. Assuming anyone in our region can even obtain an appointment, how would the JBC suggest that this person get to Denver without a license or insurance?
If the new Republican Senate majority wants to reconsider the merits of this program, that is fine, and there is an established way of doing so: proposing a bill, having debate and holding a vote among all members of both houses. Restricting funding to a program that was approved by both houses and signed by the governor is a sneaky and dishonest way of advancing partisan ends at the expense of all Coloradans.
Danny Quinlan is executive director of Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center in Durango. Reach him at: www.companeros.info.
