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Immigrants push for driver’s licenses and language programs
WWLP ^ | April 8, 2014 | Tiffany Chan

Posted on 04/08/2014 6:20:40 PM PDT by moonshinner_09

BOSTON (WWLP) - Immigrants make up a large part of our workforce, but many of them can not get a driver’s license. They either can’t pass the English driving test or they’re waiting on immigration status, and it is making it difficult for them to support their families.

“They need to be able to work and get to work. There isn’t enough public transportation in western Mass. and they need to drive,” said Barbara Paul of Holyoke Community College.

Immigrants gathered at the State House to push for the right to drive and for more state-funded English programs so they can find better jobs.

“It’s very hard to find a job if we don’t know the original language, you know, especially English. This education is for free and most of us, we don’t have the money to support this education,” said Yesenia Santiago of Holyoke Community College.

Immigrants eager to find employment are asking the state for $35 million so they can learn English. They are also pushing for a bill that would allow illegal immigrants and those waiting on immigration status to obtain a driver’s license.

“These are programs that really help our state. Keeping the streets safe, it’s not good just for immigrants, but you know, it’s good for everybody who lives here,” said Eva Millona of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.

Passing the safe driving bill will reduce the number of unlicensed and uninsured drivers in the state and bring in an estimated $15 million in revenue through fees paid by immigrant drivers.

(Excerpt) Read more at wwlp.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Local News; Politics
KEYWORDS: aliens; boston; immigration
They want drivers licenses but cannot read or understand english and in the country illegally.So the roads would remain the same.
1 posted on 04/08/2014 6:20:40 PM PDT by moonshinner_09
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To: moonshinner_09

If they can’t speak English they shouldn’t be driving.

Send them back to wherever they came from.


2 posted on 04/08/2014 6:22:43 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: moonshinner_09

How bout the world’s saddest song on the world’s smallest violin.


3 posted on 04/08/2014 6:22:46 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (The debate, ANY DEBATE, is NEVER OVER!)
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To: moonshinner_09

My opinion is that most of them DO have driver licenses so they can use them to register to vote via motor voter.


4 posted on 04/08/2014 6:26:55 PM PDT by nascarnation (Toxic Baraq Syndrome: hopefully infecting a Dem candidate near you)
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To: moonshinner_09

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/07/family_of_man_killed_in_crash.html


5 posted on 04/08/2014 6:27:01 PM PDT by bitt (If Obama is really worried about “the children”, he should be bombing planned parenthood.)
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To: moonshinner_09

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3007063/posts


6 posted on 04/08/2014 6:28:29 PM PDT by bitt (If Obama is really worried about “the children”, he should be bombing planned parenthood.)
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To: moonshinner_09

“It’s very hard to find a job if we don’t know the original language, you know, especially English.”

Well, duuuuuh!


7 posted on 04/08/2014 6:34:50 PM PDT by morphing libertarian
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To: moonshinner_09

And I am SURE that after they get their drivers licenses, they’ll immediately pony up for car insurance, too.


8 posted on 04/08/2014 6:35:58 PM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: DuncanWaring
If they can’t speak English they shouldn’t be driving.

Even if they could speak English, those that are here illegally should not be given driver's licenses.

9 posted on 04/08/2014 7:05:58 PM PDT by kabar
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To: moonshinner_09
I lived overseas for several years in my younger years.

In the foreign nations I legally worked and lived in, it was fairly simple to get a permit to drive via an international license/permit.

Illegals should repatriate themselves back to their COO.
Nothing is stopping them from going back home.

If the feds need help in helping them go back to their COOs, we have a precedent of bounties paid to report them, to make it easier for the feds to deport them.

Immigrants are very different than illegal aliens.

10 posted on 04/08/2014 7:19:54 PM PDT by sarasmom (Extortion 17. A large number of Navy SEALs died on that mission. Ask why.)
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To: moonshinner_09

Motor Voter.


11 posted on 04/08/2014 7:22:26 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (What would Scooby do?)
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To: moonshinner_09
they’re waiting on immigration status

Wait at home, not here.

12 posted on 04/08/2014 7:26:40 PM PDT by RightGeek (FUBO and the donkey you rode in on)
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To: moonshinner_09

Massachusetts Closes Illegal Alien Driving Loophole

By Jessica Vaughan, August 3, 2012

Massachusetts has joined the ranks of states that see the need to compensate for weak federal immigration enforcement by acting at the state level to make life more difficult for illegal aliens.

The lopsided vote for the bill, passed by 135-19-2 in the House and 24-10 in the Senate, was a pointed rebuke to the pro-illegal alien policies of Gov. Patrick.

http://www.cis.org/vaughan/massachusetts-closes-illegal-alien-driving-loophole

You can’t help but wonder, if such an accomplishment is possible in Massachusetts, one of the most liberal of states where Republicans are outnumbered in the legislature 163-37, why has Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives not managed to move even the most obvious pro-immigration enforcement bills that have passed the House Judiciary Committee?


13 posted on 04/08/2014 7:33:58 PM PDT by ObamahatesPACoal
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To: sarasmom

AMERICANS WANT TO MIGRATE TO MEXICO

Dear Mr. Obama:
4/8/2014

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3142064/posts

I’m planning to move my family and extended family into Mexico for my health, and I would like to ask you to assist me.

We’re planning to simply walk across the border from the U.S. into Mexico, and we’ll need your help to make a few arrangements.

We plan to skip all the legal stuff like visas, passports, immigration quotas and laws.

I’m sure they handle those things the same way you do here. So, would you mind telling your buddy, The President of Mexico, that I’m on my way over?

Please let him know that I will be expecting the following:

1. Free medical care for my entire family.

2. English-speaking government bureaucrats for all services I might need, whether I use them or not.

3. Please print all Mexican Government forms in English.

4. I want my grandkids to be taught Spanish by English-speaking (bi-lingual) teachers.

5. Tell their schools they need to include classes on American culture and history.

6. I want my grandkids to see the American flag on one of the flag poles at their school.

7. Please plan to feed my grandkids at school for both breakfast and lunch.

8. I will need a local Mexican driver’s license so I can get easy access to government services.

9. I do plan to get a car and drive in Mexico, but I don’t plan to purchase car insurance, and I probably won’t make any special effort to learn local traffic laws.

10. In case one of the Mexican police officers does not get the memo from their president to leave me alone, please be sure that every patrol car has at least one English-speaking officer.

11. I plan to fly the U.S. flag from my housetop, put U.S. flag decals on my car, and have a gigantic celebration on July 4th. I do not want any complaints or negative comments from the locals.

12. I would also like to have a nice job without paying any taxes, or have any labor or tax laws enforced on any business I may start.

13. Please have the president tell all the Mexican people to be extremely nice and never say critical things about me or my family, or about the strain we might place on their economy.

14. I want to receive free food stamps.

15. Naturally, I’ll expect free rent subsidies.

16. I’ll need income tax credits so that although I don’t pay Mexican taxes, I’ll receive money from the government.

17. Please arrange it so that the Mexican Government pays $4,500.00 to help me buy a new car.

18. Oh yes, I almost forgot, please enroll me free into the Mexican Social Security program so that I’ll get a monthly income in retirement.

I know this is an easy request because you already do all these things for all his people who walk over to the U.S. from Mexico. I am sure that the President of Mexico won’t mind returning the favor if you ask him nicely.

Look how stupid this looks when you put it in writing !!!

With high unemployment and 91 million out of the work force, the lowest work participation since the 1970’s, more than 20 millions of illegal aliens are going to be legalized while hundreds of million around the world will run through our open border looking for the American dream only to find out the American nightmare.

California used to be the richest state of America, now is almost bankrupt, everybody can see the result of uncontrolled illegal immigration, and companies are leaving to Texas, Florida and other states with less taxes and better incentives to invest and prosper.

In fact, unemployment is now lower in Mexico than in U.S.; perhaps Americans will start moving south.


14 posted on 04/08/2014 8:44:34 PM PDT by Dqban22
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To: kabar

Even if they’re here legally, if they can’t speak English they shouldn’t be driving.


15 posted on 04/09/2014 3:36:17 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: DuncanWaring
Even if they’re here legally, if they can’t speak English they shouldn’t be driving.

Disagree. First, most states have driver's tests in multiple languages. Second, it is not necessary to speak English as long as you can recognize most of the common road signs. There is a reason why the signs are different shapes. Finally, we accept international driver's licenses from the more than 50 million visitors who enter annually and/or we have reciprocity agreements with various countries on accepting their non-commercial driver's licenses, e.g., France and Germany.

I have lived overseas 25 years of my adult life in nine different countries. I drove in every one of these countries along with many more without speaking the language of those countries.

16 posted on 04/09/2014 7:45:21 AM PDT by kabar
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