Massachusetts State Senate Approves Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Aliens

A long-debated idea to give driver’s licenses to illegal aliens in Massachusetts has passed the state senate with enough margin to overcome formal opposition from Gov. Charlie Baker.

Massachusetts state senators voted 32-8 to give state driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. Five Democrats joined the stated three Republican senators in dissent of the dangerous reform. However, the margin makes the state senate’s decision effectively veto-proof. In February, the Mass. state house passed a similar bill by a veto-proof 120-36 margin.

“Democrat Sens. Nick Collins of Boston, Anne Gobi of Spencer, Marc Pacheco of Taunton, Walter Timilty of Milton and John Velis of Westfield voted against the bill, as did all three Republican senators – Bruce Tarr of Gloucester, Ryan Fattman of Sutton and Patrick O’Connor of Weymouth,” reports a local Boston news site.

Existing Mass. law bars anyone “who does not have lawful presence in the United States” from acquiring a standard Massachusetts or Real-ID license.

The new Mass. bill would allow illegal aliens to apply for standard Massachusetts licenses – which would be honored for almost all purposes within the state but can not be used to board a flight or access federal buildings.

According to WHDH Boston:

To apply for a license, someone without legal presence would need to provide the Registry of Motor Vehicles with a foreign passport or a consular identification document as well as at least one of five other documents: a driver’s license from another state, a foreign driver’s license, a birth certificate, a foreign national ID card, or a marriage certificate from any U.S. territory.

“A Suffolk University-Boston Globe poll of 800 Massachusetts residents published Monday found 46.6 percent oppose the proposal, 46.1 percent support it and nearly 7 percent are undecided. The poll was conducted from April 24 to April 28 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points,” adds the Boston News organization.

You can read the complete story here.