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11-04-2022 8:43pm

Question 4 -- An Explainer

Question 4 -- An Explainer

The Tri-County Regional Chamber of Commerce convened a Zoom call on Tuesday to delve into the four ballot questions that voters face this year, and Observer participated along with “technical expert,” Rep. Shawn Dooley.

Below is a summary of the presentation.

Question 4: Changes in who is authorized to receive a driver's license

Question 4 is a veto referendum on House Bill 4805 (H 4805). H 4805 would repeal the provision of state law that says, "No license of any type may be issued to any person who does not have lawful presence in the United States."

The proposed law would prohibit registrars from inquiring about an applicant’s citizenship or immigration status when applying for driver's licenses and motor vehicle registrations. It would also authorize registrars to accept certain documents to verify the identity and date of birth of an applicant. H 4805 would require one of the documents to be either a valid unexpired foreign passport or a valid unexpired Consular Identification document. The bill would require the second document to be either a valid unexpired driver’s license from any U.S. state or territory, an original or certified copy of a birth certificate, a valid unexpired foreign national identification card, a valid unexpired foreign driver’s license, or a marriage certificate or divorce decree issued by any state or territory of the United States. Any information or communication provided by an applicant to the registrar of motor vehicles, including not providing proof of lawful presence, would not be considered public record nor be disclosed by the registrar, except as required by federal law. The law was designed to take effect on July 1, 2023. (Ballotpedia)

Who is Maureen Maloney?

Maureen Maloney’s son was killed by an illegal in Milford in 2011. Since her son’s death, Maureen has been relentlessly fighting the policies which support and encourages illegal immigration.

After the state of MA passed this law (The Work and Family Mobility Act) allowing undocumented immigrants to get a driver's license despite a veto from Gov. Charlie Baker, Maureen Maloney led the committee Fair and Secure Massachusetts and mobilized a grass roots movement to get a referendum on the ballot and put this important question to voters. So, this is how voters get to decide on November 8!

The original bill was not popular but the legislature moved it into law as quickly as possible. Since then, many local town political groups, including RTCs, have contributted to getting the necessary signatures to add this to the November ballot, Franklin included. Most citizens do not want this! So, getting the signatures was quite easy!

Why vote yes:

  • The argument is that having a driver's license allows undocumented migrants to take their children to school, employment, or to the doctor so their basic needs can be met.
  • It could make the roads safer by reducing hit-and-runs and decreasing the number of uninsured drivers.

Who supports question 4:

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy

Officials

Unions

  • SEIU of Massachusetts State Council

Organizations

  • ACLU Massachusetts

The committees in support of this ballot measure raised a total of more than $2,260,724.80

Why vote no:

  • Threatens national security and public safety. Illegal border crossers have not been adequately vetted, screening out those who are previous criminals, have terrorist records, or even communicable diseases. The Registry of Motor Vehicles has neither the qualifications nor the resources to vet dangerous aliens.
  • The nineteen 911 hijackers had thirty driver’s licenses and IDs between them. 9/11 exposed the dangers of accepting unreliable identity documents. A driver’s license gives people the appearance of legitimacy and allows them to pass relatively unnoticed throughout the US, including criminals/terrorists.
  • This bill increases the risk of fraudulent voting. It is already a state law that when you apply for or renew a driver's license or state ID at the RMV or apply for health insurance through MassHealth or the Commonwealth Health Connector, you will be automatically registered to vote, unless you opt out of registering. Most illegals do not speak English nor are they aware of the box they are supposed to be checking.
  • The RMV feeds voter registration straight into the city and town clerk's offices.
  • The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicle clerks will be required to become experts in verifying foreign documents for authenticity to verify an individual's identity. And this is the same RMV that has been riddled with corruption and scandal for years. In 2012 and 2015 RMV workers pled guilty to providing fraudulent documents to illegal immigrants, including some that were deported.    A few years ago, tens of thousands of unprocessed out of state violations were found in boxes in a storage room in Quincy. One of those violations was to suspend the license for Volodymyr Zhukovskyy who ended up in a collision that killed 7 ‘Jarhead’ motorcyclists in NH while driving impaired. And more recently over 2000 drivers’ licenses were issued to individuals who never took the road test.
  • The law promotes and incentivizes illegal behavior (e.g., unauthorized immigration, ID theft, tax evasion, falsified social security numbers, identification, green cards, and birth certificates).
  • The law encourages more illegal immigration and was enacted at a time of a massive deterioration in border security with 2 million known illegal border crossings occurring in 2021 and at least as many expected this year. This does not account for those who evaded the border patrol.
  • States that offer driving privileges and other benefits to illegal immigrants become priority destinations and magnets for illegal immigration. From 2007 -2017 MA already saw the largest influx of illegal migrants out of all the states, with a spike of 60K.
  • The law will inflict additional economic hardship on the citizens of the state. Increasing the number of unskilled welfare-dependent immigrants is economically harmful, driving down the wages of citizens and lawful residents, especially low-skilled workers whose wages have already declined more than in any state of the Union. MA spends 2 billion dollars each year for illegal immigrant benefits, which costs each taxpaying household in the state $850 a year on average.

Who opposes question 4:

Fair and Secure Massachusetts

Maureen Maloney

Officials

Candidates

Former Officials

The committees in opposition of this ballot measure raised a total of $185,106.72

Questions:

Q: What is the logic behind giving undocumented residents a license? How did it all start:

A: In part it was just a ‘perfect storm’ of interest groups and political forces coming together at once, some of which is described here. Some have attributed political motives within the Beacon Hill leadership to the sudden support for and passage of this measure.

Q: The ads claim that it will make roads safter – are there validated studies proving this? 18 other states have implemented this. Is there any hard data to show that the roads are safer because this type of measure?

A: The ads also claim that law enforcement wants this, which is only partly true. Many rank-and-file law enforcement people do not support this. Neither do many smaller police departments, the big support has come from bigger cities in the state whose administrations are closely aligned to Beacon Hill priorities. As far as safety, there is some evidence that giving licenses to illegals reduces hit-and-run accidents – the logic being that there is less fear of arrest and deportation now that the “license” essentially puts a wall between them and ICE. However, a pretty thorough summary of data from across the country where this has been tried in an article
in liberal-leaning Commonwealth, actually showed sharp increases in accidents, again perhaps because the worst potential consequence – deportation – is effectively off the table when illegals have state licenses.

Q: The money donated in support increased by 1,000,000 in the last two weeks. Why such a big push for this? There have also been hints that this will lead to election influence. Can you please explain?

A: Aside from pure advocacy groups, the most notable donor is the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) which may see itself benefiting from representing people that would benefit from “yes.”

Q: What is the main reason Charlie Baker vetoes the law? What are his main objections?

A: Can’t speak for the Governor but he was particularly concerned that the RMV did not have the skills or capacity to adequately review documents to determine if they are legitimate. More on his ballot question views can be found here.

Q: Are you aware of Comcast suppressing links from Fair and secure?

A: Yes, Comcast appeared to be, in effect, censoring the campaign by suppressing communications that mentioned the campaign’s email, though after weeks of complaints, that seems to have stopped.

Q: Undocumented aliens have not entered our country legally, why should they have any right to anything, not just driver’s licenses?

A: Most Americans 10 or 20 years ago would have said they should not have a right to those things. News media and advocates have often confused voters by referring to illegal aliens as “undocumented migrants,” eliminating the obvious implication that they entered the country in violation of US law and implying some benign reason for their lack of documentation. Similarly, illegal aliens have been confused with asylum seekers. The asylum process exists for a reason – to make reasonable exceptions to our immigration laws where there is a compelling reason, such as a high risk of bodily harm if the individuals stay in their home country. This has spawned a whole subcategory of lawyering and has become a claim that many immigrants make because it makes it more difficult to deport these individuals.

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