Undocumented Pizza Delivery Man's Arrest Spurs Calls for Immigrant Driver's Licenses

Emerging as the next immigration battle in New York and New Jersey: Driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. 

A pizza delivery driver faces possible deportation after he couldn’t provide a driver’s license while delivering pies to a Brooklyn military base last week. Advocates and Democratic politicians say the episode highlights a problem that must be fixed.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo supports the move but blames the state Senate for not approving a bill. Yet his opponent in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Cynthia Nixon, says the Brooklyn case demonstrates why Cuomo should issue an executive order extending licenses to all immigrants, rather than rely on a legislative fix.

"If we really are serious about combating Trump’s anti-immigration agenda we need to offer driver's licenses to all our immigrant community, including the undocumented, because again, this is a prime example of how people are being picked up," Nixon said Thursday.

In New Jersey, driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants is a top legislative priority, and advocates are wrapping up an 11-day walk through the state to highlight the issue. Silvia Huerta, one of the organizers, is walking about 10 miles a day and meeting with community groups to stress the importance of allowing all immigrants to drive without worrying about being stopped by local police, only to be handed over for deportation by federal immigration officials.

"I think at a basic human decency level they deserve to drive without fear -- to take their children to school, to go to work, to drive down the street, to take their kids to their park without being afraid," she said. "Being afraid a simple document is going to be the reason they would never see their children again is an incredible burden to carry that can easily be solved by approving a bill giving undocumented immigrants driver’s licenses."

Opponents of the proposal believe the change would be a security risk, noting that terrorist hijackers used driver's licenses to board planes on Sept. 11.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has said he supports granting licenses to the undocumented, but the Democratic legislature has yet to approve a bill.