Irish played key role in new Illinois undocumented drivers licenses law

Illinois makes history and passes drivers licenses law for the undocumented

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Pictured immediately after the historic IL House vote (Left to Right) Chicago Irish Immigrant Support (CIIS) Executive Director Breandán Magee, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, CIIS Board President Cyril Regan

Photo by Breandán Magee

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The Illinois House of Representatives made history last  Tuesday, as it voted 65 to 46 to approve a temporary visitor's driver’s license (TVDL) SB 957 for the undocumented.  The Senate had voted last month to approve the bill by 41 to 14, with one abstention.  Illinois is the 5th state in the nation after Tennessee, New Mexico, Washington and Utah to approve such a measure but the only one in recent times to make such a bold move.  The bill’s passage has been hailed by immigrant advocates as a milestone for Illinois and a measure of things to come for comprehensive immigration reform in Washington D.C.  Other states may take Illinois’ lead and follow.

Chicago Irish Immigrant Support (CIIS) Executive Director Breandan Magee was in the chamber for the count and had this to say, “This vote is historic in its reach and is a bell weather for national sentiment on immigration reform and immigrants’ rights.  The tide is turning and Americans of all political persuasions see this as a fight for human rights.  I am very hopeful looking forward to immigration reform at the national level but today Illinois just made its roads safer and offers the 250,000 undocumented immigrants driving on our roads the chance to get a license and become insured”.

The bipartisan bill’s passage was the result of a long campaign that kicked off in the summer, led by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrants and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). 

ICIRR is an umbrella group of over 130 agencies in Illinois that advocate for immigrants’ rights; it counts CIIS and the Chicago Celts for Immigration Reform as long standing members.

The Irish voice was a loud one in this debate with CIIS and Billy Lawless of the Chicago Celts fielding members for days of action in Springfield and participating in mass call ins to press legislators to back the measure.  CIIS Board President Cyril Regan and Executive Director Breandan Magee spent the last two days before the vote in Springfield with a contingent of grassroots supporters from ICIRR to make the final case to lawmakers that the bill was good for Illinois and for road safety in general. 

The vote however was still undecided just before the House convened, with key legislators still unsure as to how they would cast their vote.  Representative Fred Crespo was one such lawmaker who was a definite no before the crucial vote.  Regan and Magee accompanied Fr. Brendan Curran of St. Pius Parish Chicago to the representative’s office with only five minutes to sway him before he rushed off to the final session of the 97th Congress.  It turned out that Crespo, the son of a Puerto Rican Korean War veteran had been born, baptized and confirmed in St Pius’s and he graciously listened to the three Irishmen plead the case for the bill.  The bill’s passage would have direct impact on the over 5,000 undocumented Irish men and women in Chicagoland and has stringent controls in place to avoid document fraud.

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