Licenses Can't Wait Rally 2019: A Photo Essay

Standing in front of the Massachusetts State House, almost 100 people gathered to support the legislation of driver's licenses for the undocumented. Hosted by Cosecha and Never Again Boston, a rally was held on October 3, 2019. While many people braved the cold and rain outside, there were members of Cosecha and Never Again sitting inside the statehouse, waiting in front of Speaker DeLeo's office. This is the 15th year that the community is coming together to encourage the statehouse to make driver's licenses legal for undocumented immigrants--something that 12 other states have legislated for.

Many people who are a part of Cosecha stood in front of the crowd holding banners that reflect their thoughts in both Spanish and English. The final banner in English states, "I'm just looking without fear to infringe. Help me get [a driver's license]."

And others brought their own signs to the rally to show their support. The sign on the left means: "Licenses for everyone."

Kelley Tighe, in particular, shows her support during the rally by holding up a sign in Spanish that means, “driving without fear is a right.” Tighe is a U.S. citizen living in Jamaica Plain and came to the rally because she identifies as a Latina and personally knows people in her community who are not given the right to own a driver’s license. “I feel that all residents of Massachusetts who can pass a driving test should be allowed to drive legally,” Tighe said, “There is no reason to withhold it from any group of people.”

Tighe believes that witholding driver’s licenses to the undocumented community is “unfair to all of us” because they are not receiving the same rights that she is. “Now a lot of immigrants in Massachusetts either have to drive without a license and risk getting funnelled into ICE detention because of traffic citation, or drive illegally in fear, or take public transportation and be limited to those hours and those routes,” Tighe said.

A member of Cosecha, Leo holds up a sign with a number to which people can text "Licencias" to. Through it, they are asked to take a few surveys and sign a petition.

With microphone in hand and a translator next to them, many people (most of whom are are undocumented) came to speak in front of the large crowds. They retold stories about the difficulties of not legally owning a driver's license, but at the same time encouraged everyone who attended the rally to continue supporting the cause. In response, the crowd cheered for them and chanted along with them.

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Standing in front of the Massachusetts State House, Erica (left) and Jenna (right) give an introduction speech to the large crowd gathering in front of them. They started off the rally by giving the crowd some ground rules and basic information on available translators and accessibility spaces. To set the tone for the upcoming speakers and to show the significance of the rally for undocumented immigrants living in Massachusetts, Erica said that a driver’s license will give them “the dignity of going wherever [they] want—to schools, to work, to church, to family trips—and being able to come home again.”

Leading the crowd in a chant, a Cosecha member stands up to get people loud and excited. To encourage other supporters who have been sitting in the statehouse for a couple hours by that time, they chanted "estamos contigo. We are with you."

Jeannine Donoghue stands in the middle of the crowd as she listens to many undocumetned immigrants’ testimonies about not having a driver’s license. In an effort to help the immigrant families in her community, Donoghue became a member of the New Bedford Immigrant Accompaniment Network. Her job is to drive immigrants to ICE and other important appointments that they have. “All these people that you see here, I drove,” Donoghue said, pointing to the activists on the stage. Donoghue feels that driver’s licenses should be given out to undocumented immigrants because there are “no public transportation from New Bedford to Burlington,” where the ICE offices are.

“I’m upset about what’s been going on at the border and I’m upset about the immigration policies in our country, and so I guess I got involved because I wanted to help the immigrants.”

Playing the guitar and singing through the microphone, Antuan Castro Del Rio leads the crowd in a song while Allie Wainer holds the mic for him. To end the rally, Del Rio and Wainer taught the crowd a song that they wrote that day. It goes: “somos once miliones, junto siempre luchamos. We are eleven million, and we are together in this struggle.” Emphasizing the fact that the people and community will not be divided in this issue, Del Castro and Wainer wanted to write a song that is reflective of the spirit of the people standing together.

All photos taken and edited by Tivara Tanudjaja