Our objective is to: STRENGTHEN MINNESOTA INCLUSION OF LATINO IMMIGRANTS AND CELEBRATE IMMIGRANTS’ CONTRIBUTIONS

Legislative Agenda: MCLA supports immigration legislation and policies that are humane, nondiscriminatory, and consistent with America’s longstanding values of inclusion.

Important Legislation in 2017: MCLA supports a REAL ID Act that does not include provisions that are harmful to the Latino immigrant community.

Bill number? Senate File 166 & House File 3

What is REAL ID? REAL ID is a federal requirement that all states change to a new type of driver’s license or identification card that would require proof of immigration status. The federal government allows states to create “non-compliant” identification that does not require this. However, the Minnesota’s REAL ID Act has provisions that call for proof of immigration status even for the “non-complaint” identification, which would negatively impact the Latino immigrant community.

What will the bill do? The REAL ID Act without these provisions would simply update Minnesota’s driver’s license and identification cards to comply with the federal mandate. With the provisions, it will inhibit some immigrants’ ability to get identification documents in the future.

What has MCLA done?

• MCLA’s Latino Day at the Capitol coincided with a Senate Hearing on the REAL ID Act, and MCLA brought over 200 community members to observe the hearing.

• MCLA has communicated to various legislators, committees and Governor’s Office the Council’s concerns with provisions that impact the Latino community within the bill.

What was the outcome? 

• REAL ID will become law and the recommendations provided by the Council were considered and are reflected within REAL ID.

• One of the provisions that were not included in REAL ID limited the Governors rulemaking ability. This provision would take the authority away from the Governor to change the requirements in who can obtain a drivers and identification card. Therefore, the only way for an undocumented immigrant to obtain a driver’s license is through statute which would need legislative action.

• Undocumented immigrants continue not to have access to driver’s licenses and identification cards in Minnesota. 

Other efforts:

• Opposed the elimination of overtime pay to H2A Visa holders in Minnesota, which we believe the majority of whom come from Mexico.

• Supported the Citizenship Tax credit which would support working families receive a tax credit for the fees accrued in becoming a naturalized citizen.

• Supported the Homestead Tax credit which would prevent working families from being over taxed by permitting the use of a federal taxpayer identification number in lieu of a social security number.