Governor Lincoln Chafee this week requested the introduction of a bill that would give special drivers' licenses to undocumented immigrants. Today, Rhode Island Taxpayers, an advocacy group with the mission for honest, effective, and fiscally sound government on behalf of Rhode Island taxpayers, spoke out against the bill.
“Rhode Island's unemployment rate ticked up in December to the highest in the country,” pointed out R.I. Taxpayers spokesperson Monique Chartier. “It is stunning that the response of the Governor and advocates in the General Assembly is to make it easier for illegal aliens to take jobs away from legal immigrants and US citizens.”
RI Taxpayers also suggest that illegal immigration represents a very real financial burden to taxpayers at both the local and state level. While Rhode Island officials have not put a figure on the cost to local and state taxpayers of education, uncompensated healthcare and other services provided to undocumented immigrants, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimated this cost in 2010 at $278,000,000.
February 05, 2014 GoLocalProv News Team
“Of course, Rhode Island cannot make immigration policy or single-handedly solve the national problem of illegal immigration. But we can do a lot to mitigate its impact on our state's employment rate and already over-burdened budgets with some very reasonable policy measures that discourage illegal immigration into the state,” Chartier stressed.
Yesterday on WPRO, Chafee referred to the drivers licenses “a logical step.”
"It is a logical step only if the goal is to exacerbate the state's unemployment rate and budget woes," Chartier emphasized. "Drivers licenses for illegal aliens are a complete non-starter. Our elected officials need to enact policies that are good for the state as a whole, not just a very narrow band of special interest advocates."
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