A march of over 50 people from Jenks Park in Central Falls to the Gloria Dei Lutheran Church near the Rhode Island Mall was held Sunday to demand driver’s licenses for all, regardless of immigration status. Marchers carried signs, sang and chanted as the wound their way through Central Falls, along East Ave in Pawtucket and Hope St in Providence, pausing briefly near the fountain in Lippitt Park and at the State House.
The march briefly detoured through the East Side, to pass by the home of Governor Gina Raimondo, who broke a campaign promise to grant licenses through executive action. Instead, the governor threw the issue to the General Assembly, where House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello declined to advance the legislation.
The march was organized by the Safer Rhodes Coalition and Comité en Acción. Organizer Claire Pimental, writing for RI Future, said that passing this legislation will improve the quality of life and overall safety of our communities, from higher rates of insured and licensed drivers, to greater cooperation between police and the immigrant communities they serve.
Before the march Mayor James Diossa of Central Falls was joined by state Senators Donna Nesselbush and Frank Ciccone, Senator elect Ana Quezada, and Representatives Aaron Regunberg and Shelby Maldonado.
Below find pictures and video from the event.
Community groups lead a march through Olneyville to remind Governor Gina Raimondo of her election year promise to sign an executive order giving undocumented residents of RI access to driver’s licenses. The groups carried the written promise with them as they marched, signed by the then candidate for governor when she met with them. The pledge originally said that as Governor she would issue the executive order within thirty days of being elected, but Raimondo crossed out thirty days and wrote in “one year.”
Community member Victoria Ruiz, who worked on the Community Safety Act, put the issue in terms of the criminalization of people of color. Not having a license, says Ruiz, is a path to criminalization, and is seen as “somehow not as bad or severe as other paths… but it’s all coming from the same system policing that wants to see all people of color criminalized…” Driver’s Licenses are a form of documentation, and a part of a “longer and bigger struggle for racial justice.”
The march was organized by the Comite en Accion, part of English for Action and a member of the We Are All Arizona coalition.About a dozen other states, including neighboring Connecticut, have a way for undocumented residents to obtained legal driver’s licenses.
The march started at the Price Rite on Valley St and continued through Olneyville Square.
Comité en Acción is leading the charge on getting driver’s licenses for undocumented workers in Rhode Island. Senate bill 391, which “would allow the department of motor vehicles to issue driving privilege licenses and driving privilege permits to applicants unable to establish lawful presence in the United States” has been held for further study, which is General Assembly language for “going nowhere.”
But the fight isn’t over yet.
I spoke to Sabine Adrian and Catarina Lorenzo, two leaders with Comité en Acción who are leading volunteers in a phone banking effort targeting Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed, who has the power to bring the legislation to the floor for a vote in the Senate.
According to Sophia Wright, “States like Chicago, California, New Jersey and Connecticut, to name a few, have already taken the step towards greater equality by passing similar laws that provide licenses for all, regardless of immigration status.”
During the May 21 public testimony on the bill, said Adrian, those in favor of allowing licenses for all were in the majority. Arguments against the bill almost exclusively focused on what opponents refer to as illegal immigration, but these issues are not really related. Allowing licenses prevents workers from operating a motor vehicle without the required training and testing. iT becomes a safety issue, and a quality of life issue for workers and their families. The licenses allowed under this bill would not usable for the purpose of legal identification.
The Comité en Acción is not the only organization in the fight. They are part of a coalition, Todos Somos Arizona, that includes the Olneyville Neighborhood Association, English for Action, RI Jobs with Justice, RI Jobs with Justice, the American Friends Service Committee, Fuerza Laboral and others.
Those in favor of this legislation can sign this petition at MoveOn.
You could also call Senate President Paiva-Weed and let her know that you support this important bill.
May 1 is International Workers Day so Comité en Acción and other community organizations celebrated with a march from the Armory on Cranston St. to Dexter Field, followed by a celebration of “our victories from this past year.”
The victories from the past year include passage of the Just Cause eviction bill, the elimination of ICE holds and the “campaign for Good Jobs & Quality Care at Rhode Island Hospital.”
The celebration was held in solidarity with Todos Somos Arizona (We Are all Arizona) in support of immigrant worker rights. Among the demands of those attending was a “$15 Minimum Wage, Drivers Licenses for our undocumented, real Immigration Reform, and an end to Police Brutality, Racial Profiling and the high rates of Detention and Imprisonment across the country.”
Comité en Acción is a group dedicated to “helping to develop leadership skills within the community in an effort to contribute to social justice, through works on educational & community projects.” They were joined by members of DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality), RI Jobs with Justice, Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), English for Action and others.
