EDITORIAL: Baker's veto of immigrant licensing bill raises questions

Jun. 3—It's curious why Gov. Charlie Baker, generally considered socially liberal, is vetoing the recently passed "Ensuring the Work and Family Mobility Act," which allows undocumented immigrants to apply for driver's licenses starting in 2023.

The bill cleared both the House and the Senate with more than enough support to override Baker's veto. An override vote is expected by the middle of next week.

Is Baker, a lame-duck governor, showing his true, conservative colors here, knowing that he doesn't have to win in the fall? Is he signaling the conservative Republican base — here and across the country — that he wants to be tough on undocumented immigrants? Or does he really believe that issuing driver's licenses to thousands of adults across the state could lead to voter fraud, as he stated Friday?

In his veto message, Baker said the legislation "significantly increases the risk that non-citizens will be registered to vote." The governor said the bill "restricts the Registry's ability to share citizenship information with those entities responsible for ensuring that only citizens register for and vote in our elections."

Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, who oversees elections in the state, told MassLive.com that Baker's concerns were "baseless."

The website also reported that Baker claimed in his veto statement to elected officials that the Registry of Motor Vehicles lacks the expertise to verify foreign documents, such as passports or marriage certificates, that people can provide as they seek Massachusetts driver's licenses. Baker wrote the bill also fails to differentiate between driver's licenses provided to people with and without lawful presence here.

"We've definitely spoken with the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and we can solve any concern there is about this," Galvin said, as quoted by MassLive.

The advantages of the bill — similar to legislation passed in 16 other states and the District of Columbia — seem to outweigh what appear to be phantom concerns about voter fraud.

Undocumented immigrants have very real concerns about driving without a license — something many of them have to do to get to jobs, medical appointments and their children's schools.

"Allowing parents to drive their kids to school, take them to doctor's appointments or be in charge of carpooling to take their kids to soccer, all without the concern they may be separated if they are pulled over, will allow children of undocumented immigrants to breathe and have a sigh of relief," bill supporter Sen. Adam Gomez, a Springfield Democrat, said earlier this month.

As the name of the bill implies, this legislation will ensure that people can get to work and have the kind of mobility most families need in a society of sprawling suburbs with inadequate public transportation networks.

Supporters say the bill will make the roads safer, since the only way to get a license would be to take written and road tests that may require spending time in driver's education courses.

Currently, undocumented immigrants who find themselves behind the wheel of a vehicle may not have that kind of training.

Further, supporters say, if an unlicensed, undocumented immigrant is pulled over now, they may be handcuffed and eventually deported — right in front of their children.

Law enforcement officials appear to be in favor of the measure as well, making it easier, for example, to track someone involved in a car accident rather than having to try to find someone who fled the scene of an accident because they were unlicensed.

Once the veto is overridden — as expected — it will be interesting to watch over the next year or so how the legislation is turned into law and how effective that law is at improving safety while also preventing voter fraud.