November 11, 2024
N.H. invoice targets undocumented immigrants driving with authorized Mass. licenses

Politics

The invoice would invalidate all licenses issued throughout the nation with out offering proof of lawful residence.

AP Photograph/Charles Rex Arbogast, File

Legislators in New Hampshire need to criminalize undocumented immigrants driving with authorized out-of-state licenses, countering Massachusetts’s latest efforts to extend entry to driver’s licenses for undocumented residents.

The brand new invoice launched this 12 months within the New Hampshire Senate by ten Republican legislators would invalidate any licenses issued elsewhere within the nation with out offering proof of lawful residence. Drivers could be punished with a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a tremendous or probation. 

In Massachusetts, the Work and Household Mobility Act went into impact earlier this 12 months, permitting a few of the state’s 250,000 undocumented immigrants to acquire licenses. Proponents mentioned the measure would enhance mobility and security amongst undocumented immigrants and their communities.

The Registry of Motor Autos has issued greater than 50,000 new licenses because the regulation went into impact in July, a rise of 120%, though not all of these had been for undocumented residents.

Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont all have comparable legal guidelines permitting residents to acquire licenses no matter immigration standing, with Vermont’s regulation going again to 2013. Fifteen different states throughout the nation additionally subject licenses with out proof of lawful residence.

Then again, Florida has legal guidelines invalidating some out-of-state licenses issued with out proof of immigration standing as of July 2023. Massachusetts is just not a type of states.

In response to WBUR, laws much like its New England neighbors that might permit undocumented New Hampshire residents to acquire licenses has failed six instances.

New Hampshire shares borders with Vermont and Massachusetts and is lower than an hour drive from Boston.