Top Minority Leader Calls Out Raimondo on Failed Promise of Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants

Top Minority Leader Calls Out Raimondo on Failed Promise of Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants

One of Rhode Island's top minority leaders is calling out Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo for failing to act on one of her biggest campaign promises before she leaves for Washington, DC.

“When Governor Raimondo campaigned for her first term in 2014, she publicly promised and signed a pledge that she would get undocumented residents licenses because it was the right thing to do in the name of public safety, yet six years have passed and this promise remains unfulfilled," said Representative Anastasia Williams. 

"Now, with the governor leaving Rhode Island shortly to serve our nation, time is running out and I urge her to use an executive order to make good on her promise to provide driving licenses to our undocumented residents,” said Representative Williams.

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“Even though Governor Raimondo has been unusually quiet of late, we expect that she takes this matter seriously and provides this Rhode Island community with a response that they deserve before she packs her bags for Washington D.C.,” concluded Representative Williams.

Mired in Politics - and "Political Will"

Former Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello continuously rebuffed calls for the General Assembly to take up legislation addressing licenses for undocumented immigrants. 

“I’ve been listening to people statewide, and looking at it through the national perspective,” said Mattiello in 2016. “I think people are looking at comprehensive solutions to problems, and I don't think Rhode Islanders would support [licenses] at this time.”

In 2017, a study released by Roger Williams University claimed that if drivers licenses were issued to undocumented Rhode Islanders there would be fewer accidents on Rhode Island roads.

Community groups continued to press Raimondo on the issue, including in May of 2020, when Fred Ordoñez, the Commissioner on the Commission on Health Advocacy and Equity (CHAE), blasted the Raimondo administration for the racial health disparities in coronavirus cases. 

In his statement, he also hit on her unwillingness to sign an executive order, calling her actions "neoliberal games."

"This method of operation is not new when it comes to people of color in Rhode Island. Governor Raimondo is smart enough to hire people who can speak the language of inclusion and racial equity but at the same time oppresses people of color with a facade of consideration," said Ordoñez.

"For example, during her first election campaign she promised the Latino community to pass an Executive Order to reinstate the ability for undocumented immigrants to get driver licenses," he said. "Since then her only response has been to wash her hands of the issue and pawn it off on the General Assembly even though Governor Carcieri took that ability away without the General Assembly. She keeps saying that she legally can't do it through an Executive Order, which is not true; it's just a matter of political will, and all the while she has managed to keep Latino officials and bureaucrats supporting her every move."

"This slickness may help her political career but during this emergency, we cannot stand by and allow her to cause unnecessary deaths; this is not the time for neoliberal games," he added of calling on the state to take greater action in minority communities to address the pandemic. 

Williams said this week that the issues of public health -- in addition to public safety -- are her overarching goals to see Raimondo follow through on her pledge and sign an executive order. 

“While public safety has always been important over the last six years, it is even more significant now with COVID-19 rampaging through these communities," said Williams. "The governor has been asking everyone, especially those in high-risk areas, to get tested, but our undocumented brothers and sisters have no legal way of getting to these testing sites that are not accessible throughout all of their vicinities without a license." 

The undocumented community has waited a long six years to see this promise fulfilled and I urge the governor to live up to her words and finally grant these residents the ability to move freely and legally before she leaves our state,” added Williams.