fair – RI Future

March 16, 2016

Full video: House hears testimony over driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Two competing bills were heard in the House Judiciary Committee meeting Tuesday evening in a hearing that lasted well over 6 hours and had over 4 dozen people testifying. House bill 7610, submitted by Representative Anastasia Williams, would grant driving privilege license to undocumented immigrants. House Bill 7859, introduced by Representative Arthur Corvese, would make issuing such licenses illegal. Over 200 advocates for licenses filled the main rotunda with reverberating chants during the hearing, which was often emotional and contentious.

2016-03-15 Driver's Licences Undocumented 007 — Gorman and Nardolillo

This became evident immediately as Reps Williams and Corvese verbally sparred even before presenting their bills, which were heard simultaneously. Committee Chair Cale Keable worked hard to keep the peace, and surprisingly did not put a cap on speaking times, allowing people to speak until they were done.

Both bills have been held for further study, and the ultimate fate of the bills is in doubt. Governor Gina Raimondo has indicated that she wants a bill allowing driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants to be passed and that she is ready to sign such a bill. She made a campaign promise to issue an executive order granting such licenses within her first year in office, a promise she has broken in favor of a legislative solution.

Below is all the testimony presented during the hearing last night, each speaker given a separate video. For the purposes of time it is impossible for me to do justice to all the wonderful testimony given in support of allowing undocumented immigrants driver’s licenses, just as it is impossible for me to get into some of the racism and xenophobia presented by the other side. Hopefully, the occasional notes I’ve provided below can point people towards some of the testimony I found the most interesting.

Rep Doreen Costa, vice-chair of the House Judiciary Committee, told Corvese that he had presented a “great bill.”

Rep Joseph Almeida took Corvese to task for using the term “sanctuary city” in reference to Providence. Corvese responded that, “I do not countenance political correctness,” said Corvese, “and I never have.”

Mayors Jorge Elorza of Providence and James Diossa of Central Falls both spoke in favor of licenses for undocumented immigrants.

Rep Robert Nardolillo, who quoted FAIR, (Federation for American Immigration Reform) in his Providence Journal op-ed, did not exactly do himself any favors by testifying. FAIR has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Foundation as a hate group. At one point Nardolillo seemed to imply that immigrants were more likely to drive without insurance that non-immigrants. Here’s a quote from the founder of FAIR for Nardolillo and others to ponder:

“As Whites see their power and control over their lives declining, will they simply go quietly into the night? Or will there be an explosion?”
— John Tanton, founder of FAIR

Terry Gorman, of RIILE, lists FAIR on its links page. They also list the Minuteman Project and American Border Patrol, also listed as “extremist nativist groups” by the SPLC. I don’t know how RIILE avoids being on the SPLC hate group list.

March 7, 2016July 13, 2016

I used to live in fear: Driver’s licenses and the undocumented

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

I used to live in fear. Fear of being separated from my family and fear of being forced away from my home, away from everything and everyone I had ever known. I am not a criminal, but my life has been criminalized. I have lived in Rhode Island for practically my entire life, having moved here from Europe when I was merely ten months of age. My visa expired when I was a young child and just like that, I became an undocumented immigrant.

For much of my life, documentation has been an obsession. Angst consumed me as a teen. My status constantly raised basic questions about life. I worried that I would never be allowed to drive. I worried about getting a job. These were recurring, pervasive thoughts in my thirteen-year-old mind.

Fortunately, in 2012, President Obama announced his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) memorandum. This decision granted provisional presence to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. Finally, I felt a sense of relief. I applied for DACA and underwent a background check. My application was approved. Thanks to DACA, I was now allowed to get a driver’s license.

Possessing a driver’s license means everything to me. This document allows me to work, to pursue higher education and to volunteer in my city. A license gives me a sense of being, by allowing me to fully participate in the community. Unfortunately, thousands more are not in my position. Many undocumented immigrants in RI are terrified that they will be pulled over while driving to their jobs, homes, or schools. I believe that these undocumented immigrants should not live in fear. They deserve a chance to apply for a driver’s license.

Despite enormous hurdles, undocumented immigrants continue to contribute to their communities. They have paid approximately $33.4 million in yearly tax contributions in RI, including income taxes, as reported by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. With an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number provided by the IRS, millions of undocumented immigrants throughout the United States contribute billions to local, state and federal governments. Nationally, immigrants comprise 13% of the population, but contribute 14.7% of the total economic output in the US, as shown by the Economic Policy Institute.

Unfortunately, there has been a systematic effort to distort the contributions of undocumented immigrants in the United States, with the intent of keeping them mired in the immigration process. Lobbying groups, such as the private prison industry, have echoed many of RI Rep. Nardolillo’s sentiments in his February 28th op-ed. Private prison corporations such as GEO Group and the Corrections Corporation of America stand to gain financially from undocumented immigration. For instance, between 2000 and 2010, the industry has doubled in size, while simultaneously spending over $32 million on federal lobbying and campaign contributions. In addition, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which Nardolillo cited, has a track record of affiliating with white nationalist movements. The founder of FAIR, John Tanton, has a record of association with former Klan lawyers and Holocaust deniers, as shown by correspondence archived at the University of Michigan’s library. In fact, FAIR is identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

As a result, the benefits of immigration are lost in debate. Immigration reduces overall budget deficits, as shown in a study by the National Resource Council. The issue here is not that undocumented immigrants are stealing two and three jobs each while paradoxically qualifying for every government assistance program in existence. The issue is that corporate interests stand to gain from a system that deports members of working families while inflating the profit margins of the private prison industry and appeasing white supremacists.

I strongly believe that Rhode Island should grant drivers’ licenses to the thousands of undocumented immigrants who file taxes, as the legislation requires. The thousands who live in fear only wish to better the lives of their family and children, an unequivocally American value.

I urge everyone to stand with me to end this cycle of fear and contact the legislators on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to support H7610 and S2333.

March 12, 2014March 13, 2014

Is equal equitable on state education funding?

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Is equal equitable with regard to state education funding? As it happens, even a progressive state funding formula isn’t equitable when it comes to helping Rhode Island’s economically diverse cities and towns provide an adequate education to all.

That’s what Pawtucket and Woonsocket are arguing before the state Supreme Court in a case that claims the state is unconstitutionally depriving these two school districts of its ability to properly educate its children.

The Department of Education says that the state constitution doesn’t obligate it to provide an adequate, equal or equitable education – only that it “promote” public education. Furthermore, many suburban school committee members, policy analysts and small government activists have pointed out that Rhode Island already imposes a progressive (i.e. not regressive) formula for funding local school districts based on need.

Comparing per-pupil spending between some of Rhode Island’s richest suburbs and poorest cities, it seems they are correct. Barrington and East Greenwich get about 10 percent of their per-pupil education budget from the state and Woonsocket and Pawtucket get more than 60 percent per pupil from the state. In 2014, the state will pay $8,562 per pupil in Woonsocket and $8,270 in Pawtucket. Conversely, the state will pay $1,056 per pupil in Barrington and $987 in East Greenwich. (Ed. note: RIDE does not keep per pupil state aid data, according to RIDE spokesman Elliot Krieger, but you can do the math by dividing column H of this spreadsheet by column A of this spreadsheet, according to RIDE’s Office of Statewide Efficiencies Director Cynthia Brown.)

“At an order of magnitude difference Rhode Island’s funding formula sure does a lot of work to equalize spending,” said Jason Becker, who helped author the 2010 funding formula that Woonsocket and Pawtucket are challenging in court. “I don’t see how the state could do more without dramatically increasing the amount of state funding for education. With our budget and revenue issues I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

But even with a progressive funding formula (the previous formula was not dramatically different for the richest and poorest communities) the results have been unequivocally regressive.

Take NECAP test results, for example. Barrington and East Greenwich 11th graders both scored 70 percent proficient on their math NECAP while Woonsocket 11th graders were 21 percent proficient and in Pawtucket 20 percent were proficient.

Perhaps the answer lies not within how much the aid the state gives each district, but how much aid each district needs. As Becker notes, the state funding formula equalizes spending. Even though Woonsocket and Pawtucket students have vastly different educational needs than East Greenwich and Barrington students, all four educations cost roughly the same.

In 2011, the most recent year I was able to find data on RIDE’s website, (Ed. note: still waiting to hear from RIDE Statewide Effeciencies Office if there is more recent data elsewhere), the average Woonsocket student cost $13,485 to educate and the average Pawtucket student cost $13,007. Meanwhile, the average East Greenwich student cost $13,973 and the average Barrington student cost $12,708. UPDATE: 2012 comparison here, courtesy of Elliot Krieger.

That may be equal. But considering the affluent suburbs seem to be able to do much more with a similar amount of money, it doesn’t seem equitable. Not even close.

East Greenwich recently built a brand new, “state-of-the-art” middle school building and also completed three major construction projects at the high school including an astroturf football stadium, a new entrance facade and new science labs. And next year, the EG School Committee plans to give every high school student their own laptop computer and add a staff member to facilitate the new program.

Meanwhile, this is what Providence City Councilor Sam Zurier, who is litigating the equitable funding lawsuit on behalf of Pawtucket and Woonsocket, said about the situation in Pawtucket:

“Pawtucket cannot afford to issue a separate text book for every child in some of its schools. You have laboratories with mold in them, the plumbing doesn’t work. You have classes in the elementary school that has two grades being taught by the same teacher. It’s often the case that schools run out of paper this time of year.”