Massachusetts: Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Aliens Passes First Hurdle

Lawmakers in Massachusetts have advanced a plan to provide driver’s licenses to the state’s growing illegal alien population.

This week, the state’s Senate Transporation Committee passed the legislation by a 14-4 vote despite continued opposition from Republican Gov. Charlie Baker. Now, the legislation will go before the state Senate and state House before heading to Baker’s desk.

The plan is similar to those passed by Democrats in California, New Jersey, and New York — where more than a million illegal aliens now have driver’s licenses that allow them to freely drive on public roads.

The roughly 250,000 illegal aliens in Massachusetts would become eligible for driver’s licenses so long as they are 18-years-old or older and can provide two forms of identification — a foreign passport, a consular ID document, a birth certificate, or an employment authorization document.

In its current form, the legislation would have to have enough support among state lawmakers to override Baker’s expected veto. This would mean all 125 Democrats in the state House and the state Senate would need to support the plan after a veto by Baker.

Giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens in the United States is the latest major state-to-state effort by the open borders lobby. Such a policy means illegal aliens are no longer taken into police custody for driving without licenses, thus further protecting them from being turned over to federal immigration officials.

There are anywhere between 11 and 22 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. at any given time. The number has continued to grow as hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals overstay their visas every year and about half of all illegal border crossers successfully make it into the country, undetected by Border Patrol agents.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.