By Liam Jackson
Capital News Service

LANSING – Undocumented Michiganders are fighting for the right to obtain a driver’s license, an action supporters say could generate $100 million for the state.

An initiative called Drive SAFE could pave the way.

 

Some advocates say they hope Michigan becomes the 19th state to pass similar legislation. Supporters range from teacher and nurse associations to religious groups and business owners.

SAFE stands for Safety, Access, Freedom and Economy, all of which would be improved by the passage of the bills, said Simon Marshall-Shah, a policy analyst for the Michigan League for Public Policy, a nonpartisan policy institute.

“This is a case of people being able to freely get where they need to go,” Marshall-Shah said. “This often can involve supporting their families, taking a child to school or the doctor’s office, getting other health care services for themselves or their families, going to church.”

Concerns about undocumented workers driving

A passionate supporter of the legislation is Rob Steffens, the owner of Steffens Orchards in Sparta, 15 miles north of Grand Rapids, who says he is worried about undocumented workers who have been driving to and from work in Michigan for years.

“They want to follow the law, and they can’t,” Steffens said. “And they are not going anywhere. There isn’t a plant in Michigan – and I don’t care if you are talking about turkey, chicken, apple, cherry or asparagus – that doesn’t have undocumented workers.”

The package contains two bills in the House and two in the Senate. They were all introduced in 2021.

So far the bills are stalled in committee.

“We did have a hearing that was scheduled back in 2021 that was under the (House) Rules and Competitiveness Committee,” Marshall-Shah said. “The hearing was pulled at the last minute.”

Hope for the future

But as 2022 ends and a new legislative session is set to begin, the League for Public Policy says it hopes the bills may be finally heard in committee, Marshall-Shah said. If not, momentum is building to take it up again in the new session.

 

“In terms of the Drive SAFE bills being able to move forward in both chambers, I do see a possibility for that in this upcoming session,” Marshall-Shah said. “I think that the Drive Michigan Forward Coalition overall has really built up a lot of support among legislators and among advocates.”

Drive Michigan Forward is a coalition of organizations run by immigrants and their allies who believe in the restoration of driver’s licenses for all people, according to the group’s website.

 

In 2008, the Secretary of State implemented an opinion of former Attorney Gen. Mike Cox that said an unauthorized immigrant cannot be a Michigan resident. Since then, undocumented people in Michigan have been unable to receive a driver’s license.

Not everyone in favor of the Drive SAFE legislation sounds as confident as Marshall-Shah.

“The committee process is clearly controlled by the Republicans, and they have been uninterested in moving this forward in the past,” said Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, a cosponsor of the Senate bills. “My expectation is that it is not going to be moving, especially now that it has gotten so late in the legislative calendar, but I don’t really know.”

Improved public safety and reduced insurance costs are key attributes of the legislation, Irwin said.

“Right now, we have a number of drivers who, because of the law, cannot get properly licensed,” he said. “We have a lot of drivers in Michigan who are not paying into the insurance system.”

A potential revenue source

Money is a big selling point, Marshall-Shah said. Undocumented people in Michigan in total hold almost $2.5 billion in spending power.

That money can’t be spent in areas around the state and in local economies if undocumented Michiganders are denied access to a driver’s license, said Marshall-Shah.

On top of that, Michigan would bring in over $100 million over a decade because of these laws, according to the League for Public Policy. The money would come from license fees and revenue from registering vehicles and sales and gas taxes.

Opposition to this legislation has not come from any specific person or group, said Marshall-Shah.

 

“I would say the pushback in general has come from people who are really unaware of the benefits of the bills,” he said. “Certainly we’ve seen a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment at-large over the last few years, particularly at the federal level and under the Trump administration.”

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Liam Jackson is a journalist from Trenton, Michigan. He enrolled at Michigan State in 2018. His journalistic interests include feature stories and sports journalism. In addition to writing for Spartan Newsroom, Liam has also served as the News Editor and Sports Editor at Impact 89FM.