Providing thousands of eligible illegal aliens with driver’s licenses is set to cost Massachusetts taxpayers some $28 million, Gov. Maura Healey (D) reveals.
Last year, Massachusetts joined a swath of other states after voters approved a new law that will make driver’s licenses available to potentially 85,000 illegal aliens living across the state.
Everton Candido, a 19-year-old illegal alien, had become the face of the driver’s license law after he was arrested for allegedly killing 77-year-old Walter Wishoski Jr., a veteran of the Army National Guard who was born and raised in Malden, Massachusetts.
Candido, who was driving without a license, allegedly killed Wishoski in a fatal crash.
After previously estimating the new law would cost taxpayers less than $10 million to implement, Healey’s office now reveals that it is likely to cost close to $30 million.
“In support of this new law, H.1 adds $28 million in funding to expand service hours at select RMV locations … new applicants will pay the standard transaction fees at the Registry, bringing in additional revenue that will largely offset these implementation costs,” Healey’s office noted in a budget memo.
Former Gov. Charlie Baker (R) had attempted to block the law from taking effect but his veto was overruled by the state’s Democrat-controlled legislature.
Driver’s licenses for illegal aliens are vital for the open borders lobby because often when illegal aliens are pulled over by local police, driving without a driver’s license is the first criminal charge that can put them in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for arrest and deportation.
In Fiscal Year 2022, states scored more than 17,500 drunk driving convictions for illegal aliens who were later arrested by ICE agents. Another nearly 11,500 traffic offense convictions were settled against illegal aliens turned over to ICE.
Today nearly 300,000 illegal aliens reside in Massachusetts.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.