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With Obama’s reelection earlier this month, many states have started to pass initiatives and propose resolutions to help undocumented immigrants residing in the United States. It has been the Latino voters, who have spoken up and asked their local politicians to begin addressing concerns of the undocumented immigrant community because the President has not made substantial effort to impose any immigration reform.

Recently, the state of Illinois has been in the news because their local representatives are devising a bill that would benefit thousands of undocumented immigrants in the state. Currently Illinois is populated by many undocumented immigrants and is a state that is tolerant of these immigrants. The bill they proposed is not solely to benefit the undocumented immigrants but also the rest of the state, because they want to “[make] sure all motorists, regardless of their background, are licensed and insured will drive economic growth and ease the financial burden on all Illinois motorists”. The state of Illinois is trying to make the streets safe for everyone, but if there are undocumented immigrants are driving without a license that means that they do not have insurance, putting everyone else in danger. This is why Pat Quinn and Rahm Emmanuel are openly supporting this bill because it would reduce “traffic accidents caused by undocumented immigrants”.

It is great that  my home state has put aside the legal status of a person and wants to grant all undocumented immigrants licenses. My local politicians are setting an example of passing pragmatic reform that will benefit all. I personally know many undocumented immigrants that would gain a license if this bill goes through. Do you think what the state of Illinois is doing is right? Should other states propose this bill?