Why Some Wisconsin Lawmakers and Local Officials Have Changed Their Minds About Letting Undocumented Immigrants Drive

stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to News@lemmy.world – 95 points – Why Some Wisconsin Lawmakers and Local Officials Have Changed Their Minds About Letting Undocumented Immigrants Drive
propublica.org

“If we suddenly kicked out all of the people here, the undocumented, our dairy farms would collapse,” one lawmaker said. “We have to come up with a solution.”

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Instead of getting them documented, Republicans will instead relax cold labor laws so that 12 year olds can work in factories without a permit.

The solution would be a path to being here legally but I suspect that's untenable for rightwingers.

It could never be that easy. I mean, they'd have to admit they were WRONG.

It is probably best addressed by strictly enforcing immigration laws in red states so we can see what happens. Red states rely on undocumented workers even more than blue states.

I’m all for enforcing immigration- but there also needs to be a realistic path to citizenship.

Especially because companies are bringing them up and exploiting them knowing they can’t easily go to the authorities

if only there was something a right wing saint had done we could point to.

The solution: Amnesty and citizenship. Screw this "Everyone must suffer trying to be here." They wanna be here. There are jobs for them. Just swear them in and forget all this bullshit.

I wouldn't go as far as citizenship. Work visa, at least. And you know why that won't happen. Stealing out jobs and all that.

I would. Hell, just to punish the guys who are hiring below the minimum wage I would give them citizenship AND a union card.

Make them pay all the workers the difference between their actual wages and minimum wage up to a few years back and, once established that they do in fact work there, it's up to the employer to prove they weren't there that long but require full access to those books and include everyone in them for the back pay. Plus personal liability for anyone who was aware when it bankrupts the company.

Edit: and the reporter is fast tracked through the citizenship process.

This is also the result of the fact that getting around without a car is likely impossible in most cases so the only option is illegals driving illegally.

Framing this around the dairy industry makes me want to vomit. That whole industry needs to collapse

Find a solution, sure, but fuck everything about letting illegals drive. You kidding me with that shit? They essentially because untouchable. If they crash their crash and kill someone or do a ton of damage, what are you going to do? Nothing. They'll jump to somewhere else or even go home.

…where are you getting the idea that letting someone who isn’t a citizen drive legally means that they can’t be charged with vehicular manslaughter?

I think their point is more that it's easier for an undocumented individiual to disappear than for a documented one. They're already undocumented, so they're used to operating without going through proper channels. They have no connection to the vehicle, and thus no insurance, and thus the person being hit has no recourse for getting their own vehicle fixed.

Now, letting them get licenses would presumably come with them also getting insurance, but I feel like this is just a band-aid on a much bigger problem.

They’re not rich ghosts who can shrug off the loss of a vehicle and disappear. Most are, in fact, tethered to a small area BECAUSE they’re undocumented, and as such can’t rent or buy housing or cars anywhere, and the vast majority are in jobs that are, at best, scratching the floor of the middle class.

This argument makes it even more appealing to get them licenses and therefore insurance by tying the car involved to a name.

Undocumented people who drive are likely to be much more careful, because even just getting pulled over can result in deportation.