NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — While states around the country work to handle the immigration crisis, one group in New Orleans is hoping Louisiana will adopt a “Driver’s License for All” program.
So far, 19 states around the country have a similar program which allows people, regardless of their immigration status, to get a driver’s license.
“We love this city. We love this country. We’re here now,” Unidas en Accion Executive Director Letitia Casildo told WGNO News.
Casildo is from Honduras and helped co-found the Familias Unidas en Accion organization in 2018.
Along with operating a small food bank out of her group’s office, Casildo and her team work to help people who are in the New Orleans area, many of whom are from Central America and can not speak English. Also, many of them are in the country illegally.
Casildo says that when disasters strike in the United States and illegal immigrants arrive for the employment opportunities during recovery efforts, people don’t mind having them around. She says they pay taxes when they’re here and often they have to drive cars, so they should be allowed to get a driver’s license without worrying that they’ll be deported.
“When a hurricane comes, when a tornado comes, it’s the Latino, it’s the immigrant family that goes and works,” she says.
Casildo’s organization is leading a petition to get Louisiana lawmakers to pass a “Driver’s License for All” policy.
“We don’t ask for privileges. We only ask for dignity,” she said.
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