Licenses proposed for undocumented workers

RISK VS. REWARD: Gustavo Gonzalez, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, arrives home from work after driving without a Rhode Island driver's license. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
RISK VS. REWARD: Gustavo Gonzalez, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, arrives home from work after driving without a Rhode Island driver's license. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

Though he has no license, 45-year-old Gustavo Gonzalez routinely drives from Central Falls to his job as a custodial worker in Franklin, Mass.

The native of Mexico, one of an estimated 20,000 undocumented immigrants in the state, doesn’t speak English and can’t get a license because he is not a citizen. He’d like nothing better than to be able to legally drive to his job each day, he said through his daughter, Sonia, “so I can get to work safely and without the fear of getting stopped.”

Legislation in the General Assembly would help him do that, by granting two-year licenses to drive to undocumented immigrants. The licenses would require certification that the person has paid taxes for two years but could not be used as a form of identification or to obtain a commercial driver’s license, said Sen. Frank A. Ciccone III, D-Providence, the Senate bill sponsor.

The licenses are needed to make it safer for all motorists on the road, as well as to get these individuals safely to and from jobs without fear of being deported, said Rep. Anastasia Williams, D-Providence, sponsor of the House version of the bill.

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If drivers’ licenses are legally granted to undocumented immigrants, “there’ll be more [insurance] policies being purchased and issued, so it’s a plus,” she told Providence Business News.

“It’s an insurance issue,” added Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza at a March 10 press conference at the Statehouse on the issue attended by Gonzalez and other bill supporters.

“Drivers who benefit from these bills will be required to obtain insurance – something that isn’t happening now,” he said. “It’s important for Providence immigrants. They need to have driving privileges to get to work. This is the right thing to do.”

Elorza’s parents were at one time undocumented immigrants, though he was born here, the mayor said.

Robert P. Suglia, senior vice president and general counsel for Lincoln-based Amica Mutual Insurance Co., said the company would not take a position on the legislation. The company does not require citizenship-status information when someone applies for insurance but does ask for license information before insuring a vehicle, he said.

“It’s our position that everyone who drives on the roads in Rhode Island should be licensed and insured, as is required by law,” Suglia said. “To the extent that the bill would lead more people to become insured, we think that is generally a good thing for the state, because it reduces the cost the rest of us would pay for uninsured motorists.”

Garry Mansfield, president of the Warwick-based Independent Insurance Agents of Rhode Island and vice president of Mansfield Insurance Agency in Westerly, said there could be a general benefit to the state from fewer uninsured motorists, including lower insurance costs for all drivers.

“If anything, I see it potentially reducing the number of uninsured vehicles in the state,” he said.

“I don’t know that there’s going to be a dramatic impact in terms of new business coming into the marketplace [because of the bills],” said IIARI Executive Vice President Mark Male. “If people need insurance, there [are] any number of avenues to pursue coverage. Agents are one of those solutions. The insurance goes with the vehicle, not with the individual. Every vehicle has to have insurance by law.”

The real concern is uninsured vehicles being involved in accidents, he added.

“Nobody wants to be struck by someone who doesn’t have insurance because that drives everyone’s rates up,” he explained. “You can’t recover costs from an uninsured party.”

Terry Gorman, president and executive director of the Lincoln-based Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement, contended that it is more important to “get the immigration laws we have on the books enforced,” including deporting people who are working here illegally – without a green card or citizenship.

“The bills, we think, [are] just another open invitation for more illegal aliens to come to Rhode Island,” Gorman said.

But lawmakers insist that since these workers are here already, ensuring public safety on the roads for all motorists, not just undocumented immigrants, would be an immediate benefit. Other states and territories in the U.S. that have some drivers’ license privileges in place for undocumented immigrants include Washington, D.C., California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Vermont, Washington State and Puerto Rico, Williams said.

“These are hardworking people, tax-paying people,” Williams added. n

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