Activists Cheer Approval of Driver’s Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants in New York and New Jersey

People in New York and New Jersey are celebrating two victories for immigrants’ rights. In New York, thousands of undocumented people waited in line for hours at Departments of Motor Vehicles on Monday to apply for a driver’s license, as the “Green Light Law” went into effect six months after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed it. The law allows undocumented people to apply for a driver’s license using alternative forms of identification instead of providing a Social Security Number. Meanwhile, in the neighboring state of New Jersey, state lawmakers also passed a bill Monday to allow undocumented people to apply for driver’s licenses. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has already said he’ll quickly sign the bill, benefiting nearly 500,000 undocumented people in the state who are eligible to drive. Fourteen other states, including Delaware and California, also allow undocumented people to apply for a driver’s license. We speak with Yaritza Mendez, associate director of organizing at Make the Road New York, who helped push the state’s new Green Light Law. We’re also joined by Haydi Torres, an organizer with Movimiento Cosecha, which led the push to pass a New Jersey bill granting driver’s licenses to undocumented people, and David Cuautle, a 9-year-old who testified in front of the New Jersey state Assembly Judiciary Committee.

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