FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Evan Lips, communications director
617-523-5005 ext. 245

BOSTON — Beacon Hill Democrats, tasked with working on behalf of the Massachusetts taxpayers who pay their salaries, are instead working to grant illegal immigrants access to driver’s licenses.    On Wednesday, the public will have the opportunity to speak to Democrats directly when the Joint Transportation Committee hears their “Work and Family Mobility Act” at 10 a.m. inside the State House’s B-1 conference room. The bill proposes that those “unable to provide proof of lawful presence” can apply for a Massachusetts license “if they meet all other qualifications for licensure.”   “Radical Democrats will stop at nothing to achieve their goal of transforming Massachusetts into a state where the privileges of individuals who came here illegally prevail over those who played by the rules,” Lyons said. “This latest scheme subverts federal immigration laws, with the hardworking taxpayers of Massachusetts of course being left to foot the bill.”   Illegal immigration already costs Massachusetts taxpayers an estimated $2 billion per year. A Pew Research Group study found that between 2007 and 2017, Massachusetts’s illegal immigration rate ranked number one in the country. The proposed legislation would give illegal immigrants even more incentive to move to Massachusetts, as the bill would eliminate language from current law requiring that “no license of any type may be issued to any person who does not have lawful presence in the United States.”    “This legislation would make Massachusetts a target for even more fraud than it already experiences,” Lyons said. “The message the Radical Democrats are sending is that it’s OK to break our laws.   “There are more than 275,000 individuals living here illegally, and apparently the Democrats believe that their benefits outweigh the benefits of those who are abiding by the law.”