PROTESTORS DEMAND DRIVING RIGHTS FOR ALL NEW JERSEY RESIDENTS REGARDLESS OF IMMIGRATION STATUS

October 24, 2019, 5:15 pm | in

PROTESTORS DEMAND DRIVING RIGHTS FOR ALL NEW JERSEY RESIDENTS

REGARDLESS OF IMMIGRATION STATUS

Protesters Take Direct Action to Call on NJ Legislators to Pass Bill Protecting Residents

from Deportation, Improving Public Safety, and Maintaining a Strong Economy.

Newark, New Jersey, October 24, 2019 ― Close the Camps NYC and Cosecha NYC

led protestors to march peacefully and participate in civil disobedience beginning at 20 Ferry Street at Peter Francisco Park at 4 PM today, demanding that New Jersey lawmakers pass A4743, which would make residents eligible for driver licenses regardless of immigration status.

This pending legislation enables applicants who pass all driving tests to receive a license ― without unnecessarily forcing residents to provide immigration documentation, which does not advance transportation safety.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who supports this reform, has expressed frustration at the legislature’s delay, and has called upon New Jersey residents to urge their representatives to pass A4743 so that he can sign it into law. Learn more here. Cosecha and Close the Camps call on all legislators to bring this bill to the Governor’s desk.

New Jersey is home to more than 500,000 undocumented migrants across the United States. The ability to secure a driver’s license has far-reaching, critical implications across the Garden State ― from preventing abusive ICE raids to improving road safety to insuring drivers who cannot buy car insurance without a license, and impacts our economy, which depends on all business owners and workers, including the undocumented.

“Your family could be torn apart by a simple traffic stop,” said Andy Ratto of Close the Camps NYC. “Residents without immigration papers are already forced into the shadows, but they still have to work to support their families, they still sometimes get sick and have to go to hospital, like everyone else.”

“Driver’s licenses aren’t luxury goods. They’re necessities for people traveling to work and taking their children to school,” said Norma Morales of Cosecha. “For 18 years, New Jersey politicians have committed to — and failed — to stop this discrimination against immigrant families. Now is the time for our leaders make good on their promises.”

New Jersey is among 23 states where this critical reform is pending or has become law. This critical reform has been implemented in: the District of Columbia; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; Hawaii; Illinois; Maryland; New Mexico; New York; Nevada; Utah; Vermont; and Washington State. Similar legislation has been passed in the Oregon House and has been introduced in: Florida; Kansas; Massachusetts; Minnesota; New York; North Carolina; and Texas. Learn more.

Reforming the document requirements to secure a driver’s license will have crucial benefits for anyone who lives in, works in or visits New Jersey:

Improves Street Safety. Licensing requires would-be drivers to prove their proficiency in using a vehicle safely and understanding traffic rules. Reforming the laws lets unlicensed drivers participate in the system – and empowers the State of New Jersey to approve of and regulate more drivers.

More drivers will be insured, minimizing risk. Unlicensed drivers cannot purchase car insurance. By bringing unlicensed drivers into the system, they will be required to purchase insurance which protects the driver, other drivers, property and people.

Licensing protects otherwise law-abiding immigrants from abusive ICE actions. More than half of all Immigrations and Customs Enforcement actions across the country begin with a traffic stop. Otherwise law-abiding immigrants should not be racially targeted, suffer abusive and inhumane detention, and be deported because of a minor traffic offense.

This action comes just one month after Close the Camps NYC shut down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to protest Microsoft’s collusion with ICE and Cosecha’s October 19 protest at ICE offices on Broad Street.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS

Close the Camps NYC and Cosecha are civil rights groups dedicated to nonviolent direct action.

Close the Camps is a coalition of groups and organizers working to close concentration camps in the United States and abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to demilitarize immigration processes. Cosecha fights for permanent protection, dignity and respect for the 11 million undocumented immigrants across our neighborhoods and across the country.

Follow our actions here and nationwide in social media by using @CosechaMovement, @CloseTheCampsNYC, #LetOurPeopleDrive, #NoBusinessWithICE, #DignityNotDetention, #ShutDownICE and #AbolishICE.

Website: https://www.closethecampsnyc.com

Email: info@closethecampsnyc.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CloseTheCampsNY

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CloseTheCampsNYC/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/CloseTheCampsNYC/

Sister Organizations Endorsing this Action:

Carroll Gardens Association

Code PINK NYC

Freedom Socialist Party

Hand in Hand: Domestic Employers Network

New Sanctuary Coalition

NYCD16 Indivisible