Connect with us

Massachusetts

Massachusetts lawmakers send Baker a bill allowing driver’s licenses for undocumented people – The Boston Globe

Published

on

Massachusetts lawmakers send Baker a bill allowing driver’s licenses for undocumented people – The Boston Globe


The suggestion has prompted pushback from Democrats, together with Secretary of State William F. Galvin, the state’s high elections official, who’s argued that “nothing may very well be farther from the reality.”

The invoice’s passage, after years of failed advocacy framing the difficulty as one in every of social justice, got here after proponents tightened its language to attract extra assist from regulation enforcement. The invoice has been backed by nearly all of the state’s sheriffs and district attorneys, in addition to the Massachusetts Main Metropolis Chiefs of Police.

Ought to the invoice turn into regulation, individuals with out authorized immigration standing may receive a license by offering two paperwork that show their id, similar to a international passport and a start certificates or a consular identification card and state marriage certificates or divorce decree.

Thursday’s votes, whereas essential, weren’t stunning. Each chambers had beforehand handed related variations of the laws this yr, every time by veto-proof margins and within the Senate’s case, by the very same depend.

Advertisement

Home and Senate officers ironed out minor variations between the 2 variations final week, and Democratic leaders sought to guarantee their colleagues Thursday that provisions they earlier supported had been nonetheless intact, together with the requirement that individuals looking for licenses present at the least two different kinds of documentation.

“That public security normal is the touchstone for this invoice,” state Consultant William M. Straus, the Home chairman of the transportation committee, stated from the Home ground.

The proposal would influence roughly 250,000 undocumented individuals dwelling in Massachusetts, and, its supporters contend, the tens of millions they share the roads with, by assuring extra drivers are each educated and in a position to get insurance coverage.

Proponents have additionally stated the invoice is essential to permitting immigrant dad and mom, together with these with kids born in america, to drive them to physician appointments or faculty with out worry of being pulled over for small infractions and being detained due to their immigration standing.

Sixteen different states and the District of Columbia already enable undocumented individuals to obtain driver’s licenses, in response to the Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures. The brand new ID necessities would take impact on July 1, 2023.

Advertisement

Massachusetts residents appeared cut up on the difficulty, in response to Suffolk College/Boston Globe. A slender plurality of these surveyed — 47 % — stated they oppose such laws, whereas 46 % assist it, the ballot discovered.

Baker, a longtime opponent to the idea, stated this month he believes passage of the invoice may spur “enormous numbers of provisional votes,” arguing it’s going to then make it tougher for individuals to determine “who really received elections.”

The Democratic-led Senate this month had rejected amendments from Republican members that may create a brand new license sort with totally different necessities and require that the license to say “not eligible to vote” written in “daring textual content.”

It’s towards the regulation for noncitizens to vote in state and federal elections. The invoice additionally requires the Registry of Motor Autos should “guarantee” noncitizens wouldn’t be routinely registered underneath a present state regulation that registers these of voting age who search driver’s license.

Baker has additionally raised issues that whereas these with out authorized immigration standing wouldn’t be issued a so-called REAL ID — which subsequent yr will turn into the one sort of license accepted to board US flights — there could be little differentiating the licenses they obtain and normal licenses issued to US residents by the state.

Advertisement

“This license we’re speaking about will not be a privilege-to-drive card, which is what they’ve in a bunch of different states. It seems precisely like a Massachusetts driver’s license,” Baker stated throughout a March look on GBH’s Boston Public Radio. “You possibly can’t inform the distinction between this and a daily one.”

Help for the invoice has largely fallen alongside partisan strains, with a handful of Democrats in every chamber becoming a member of Republicans in voting towards it.

Each Democrats working for governor, Legal professional Normal Maura Healey and state Senator Sonia Sonia Chang-Díaz, have supported the invoice, whereas the Republican gubernatorial candidates — former state lawmaker Geoff Diehl and businessman Chris Doughty — have every spoken towards it.

Diehl stated Thursday that if he had been governor, he would “flatly veto” the invoice and warned it will “threaten the integrity of our elections.” Diehl has additionally beforehand echoed former president Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

“That is exactly the ill-advised radical progressive agenda that I’m campaigning towards,” Diehl stated.

Advertisement

Matt Stout might be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Comply with him on Twitter @mattpstout.





Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Massachusetts

Two from Massachusetts allegedly break into a dispensary, then a restaurant

Published

on

Two from Massachusetts allegedly break into a dispensary, then a restaurant


They say marijuana can give you the munchies. That may explain the alleged break-in spree of two from Massachusetts.

According to police, on Saturday, at approximately 5:36 a.m., Blackstone Police received multiple reports of car break-ins on Michelle Lane and Ascension Street, and break-ins at multiple businesses including, First Choice Dispensary and Casa Burrito. 

Officers responded to the area. Through a preliminary investigation, which included reviewing surveillance footage and through the cooperation of the public, officers were able to identify two juveniles, a 15-year-old male and 17-year-old male both from Blackstone.

Advertisement

Both juveniles are being charged with the following: 

  • Breaking and Entering into a Vehicle in the Nighttime
  • Breaking and Entering into a Building in the Nighttime (Two Counts)
  • Larceny from a Building
  • Larceny under $1,200
  • Larceny of a Credit Card
  • Malicious Destruction Under $1,200
  • Trespassing
  • Larceny Under $1,200 by False Pretense  

Both juveniles are expected to be charged in Milford District Court next week. 



Source link

Continue Reading

Massachusetts

Trump campaign HQ opens in Massachusetts

Published

on

Trump campaign HQ opens in Massachusetts


NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) — A new campaign headquarters opened up in Massachusetts for former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign on Sunday.

The office is located at the DeMello International Center on Union Street in New Bedford.

Massachusetts GOP Chair Amy Carnevale and former Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, chairman for Trump’s campaign in Massachusetts, delivered remarks.

Another office in Massachusetts opened up a couple of weeks prior in Northborough.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Massachusetts

Severe thunderstorm watch in effect for Massachusetts throughout Sunday

Published

on

Severe thunderstorm watch in effect for Massachusetts throughout Sunday


A week after a tornado watch was issued to Massachusetts and some parts of New England, more inclement weather could hit the region Sunday.

A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect until 7 p.m. Sunday for the Bay State, Rhode Island and most of Connecticut, according to the National Weather Service Forecast office. Southern New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont face a hazardous weather outlook.

A detailed forecast for Massachusetts shows a chance of showers and thunderstorms Sunday afternoon after 2 p.m. with a high around 84 degrees and winds from the southwest coming in around 16 mph.

“Some of the storms could be severe and produce heavy rainfall.” the forecast reads.

Advertisement

This evening, showers and thunderstorms remain likely throughout the state, mainly before 10 p.m. The forecast calls for cloud coverage in the early portion of the evening which should clear up later on. The temperature could drop as low as 61 degrees with winds coming in from the west around 11 mph.

Total rainfall on Sunday could range from a little over an inch to almost three, according to the forecast.

Additionally, the National Weather Service’s storm prediction center upgraded the southern part of New England to an enhanced risk (a level 3 out of 5) for severe weather on Sunday.

“Areal coverage of storms will increase this afternoon with damaging wind the primary threat, but large hail and an isolated tornado is also possible,” NWS said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending