ILAP Testimony in Support of LD 908: An Act To Protect Maine Residents and Organizations from Unreasonable and Illegal Surveillance, Monitoring or Tracking

Senator Carney, Representative Harnett and distinguished members of the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary, thank you for the opportunity to write in support of LD 908.

My name is Julia Brown.  I am the Advocacy and Outreach Director at the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP).  ILAP is Maine’s only statewide nonprofit provider of immigration law and related legal aid to Maine’s low-income residents.  Each year, ILAP serves over 3,000 individuals statewide, coming from approximately 100 countries around the world. On behalf of ILAP and our clients, I ask the Committee to vote “ought to pass” on LD 908, otherwise known as “An Act To Protect Maine Residents and Organizations from Unreasonable and Illegal Surveillance, Monitoring or Tracking.”

Maine law makes it illegal to drive without a license but also prohibits Mainers without status from obtaining a driver’s license. That simply does not make sense. A driver’s license is essential to an individual’s ability to live and work nearly everywhere in our predominantly rural state. Mass transit is virtually nonexistent outside of our largest cities. How do we expect so many members of our essential workforce to get to work?

Because of Maine’s current law prohibiting members of our communities without status from obtaining a driver’s license, undocumented Mainers risk a traffic stop and/or an arrest every time they drive to work, their child’s school, or the grocery store. This is a racial justice issue. Many members of Maine’s immigrant community are Black and Brown, and in addition to the systemic racism that all people of color and indigenous and tribal populations face, they are also subject to anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy. 94 percent of ILAP’s clients are Mainers of color. Through our work, we have heard many reports that suggest racial profiling was involved in law enforcement encounters with members of the immigrant community.

Arrests and criminal charges gravely harm an individual’s immigration case. There are multiple bills in the United States Congress that may provide a pathway to status for undocumented Mainers. However, our immigration laws unfairly punish those who have interacted with the criminal legal system. Having an arrest or charge or conviction for something as minor as driving without a license--that they are unable to obtain--could mean that a Mainer loses the opportunity to gain legal status.

At ILAP, we have seen many cases where undocumented Mainers were arrested and detained by ICE after traffic stops for minor infractions or when no reason was provided. If every person could obtain a driver’s license, regardless of status, it lessens the frequency of bias-based traffic stops based on that pretense. This simple change in the law could help keep Maine families together.

Maine must restore the ability of all Mainers to obtain drivers’ licenses, regardless of immigration status. Forcing community members to either break the law or to spend hours a day commuting to and from work or school harms us all. I urge you to vote “ought to pass” on LD 908. Thank you for your time.

A PDF version of this statement is available here.