We, the undersigned, ask Governor Mark Dayton, to pass a law permitting all people over the age of 18 living in the US without documents to be able to obtain a driver’s license. There are an estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the U.S., many of which drive without a driver’s license. It is a necessity to drive in order to go to work, bring their children to school, and complete common errands. Eight states have passed laws allowing them to drive, nine states have introduced this proposal and it passed the MN Senate in 2013. Many people are in favor of this law, including a number of police chiefs, lawyers, city council members and many US citizens. They believe that passing this law would make our streets safer as we could be assured that drivers know the rules of our streets by having passed license exams. They would also have car insurance, thus decreasing hit and run accidents that happen when immigrants fear deportation. Research by economist James Kielkopf demonstrated the following points of the economic impact of undocumented workers in MN: Their work accounts for approximately $3.8 billion of added value in the MN economy each year. Their work results in the generation of $1.02 billion in tax revenue that goes to social security and state and local taxes.

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