By Jason Hopkins
City councilors in Cambridge, Massachusetts, voted to prohibit police officers from arresting illegal aliens if they are caught operating a vehicle without a license.
Under a newly passed city ordinance in Cambridge, residents are still legally required to carry a driver’s license if they are operating a vehicle, but local law enforcement has been ordered not to arrest illegal aliens caught driving without identification, Boston 25 News first reported.
The Welcoming City Ordinance is not limited to roadways, but also forbids law enforcement from inquiring about an individual’s immigration status, and restricts information sharing and cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The city ordinance, ordained Feb. 10, marks what appears to be the most lenient policy for undocumented immigrants and roadway rules.
The city councillors who passed the ordinance say it’s necessary given increased immigration enforcement emanating from the White House.
“We need to protect our community members from a federal government that’s out of control,” Cambridge City Councilor Quinton Zondervan said of the rule. “There are no other reasons for the police to arrest someone, give them a court summons instead which keeps them out of the clutches of the Trump administration.”
Known as the Welcoming City Ordinance, the rules spell out what is expected of law enforcement if they encounter an illegal alien operating a vehicle.
“When taking action against a person who is found to be driving without a valid driver’s license, officers of the Cambridge Police Department shall, whenever possible in the officer’s discretion and if there are no other violations causing the person to be arrested, issue a summons to court instead of taking the person into custody,” text of the ordinance read.
“In such circumstances, the law enforcement officer taking action shall endeavor to provide the driver a reasonable opportunity to arrange for a properly licensed operator to drive the vehicle before seeking to impound the vehicle, unless the violation is one subject to a statutory or regulatory requirement of vehicle impoundment,” the ordinance continued.
The Welcoming City Ordinance is not limited to roadways, but also forbids law enforcement from inquiring about an individual’s immigration status, and restricts information sharing and cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
A growing number of states have implemented laws allowing illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses. New York and New Jersey, for example, recently passed laws that allow illegal aliens to earn a license. However, the ordinance in Cambridge takes the unprecedented step of allowing individuals to operate a vehicle without identification entirely.
Illegal aliens caught driving without a license in the city could still be arrested, but only if there are other circumstances beyond a lack of identification.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to the Cambridge Police Department for comment about the law, but no response was immediately provided.
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Doesn’t Jason know they’re not illegal aliens, but undocumented immigrants. That means they are supposed to be invisible to any law enforcement body. They don’t need driver’s licenses, or insurance for their vehicles. They are invisible. Next thing, they won’t even have to register their vehicles, just put any old plate on it.
My perspective is this makes a mockery of the law in general. This is particularly biased against law abiding people who work to pay for, among other things, drivers licenses, insurances, and registrations, mandated by the state in exchange for exercising the privilege to drive. Now the state through tolerance of Cambridge’s ordinance, since drivers licenses are issued by the state, is setting a dangerous precedence. Before a license is issued the first time, it is necessary to pass a written and driving test, showing that applicants understands the rules of the road, are physically capable, and can safely control a vehicle in traffic. In Cambridge, there will be more people driving who don’t know the rules and will learn to drive as they go along in traffic. And they accuse Trump for being out of control.
This could really backfire on them when a state citizen gets ticketed for driving without a license. The ACLU could have a field day, especially if lots of citizens refuse to buy a driver’s license. It’s only fair.
I cant blame cambridge for doing this. Illegally entering the USA is hard enough and then you have to get a legal license. Its so much more convenient to not have to wait in those DMV lines like the “legals”. Thank god for the nice people of Cambridge see how absurd the rule of law is.
Oh gosh. Do they have to have insurance? Seems unfair if they do, until they have an accident with some politician’s Lincoln Towne Car. Would that be cause for deportation?
Massholeo’s are the arm pit on humanity…too bad so many of ’em moved here..The same ijits
that elect sub captain wanna be Kennedy and liawatha.
It’s completely insane. Mutiny also. Do they want a federal takeover of Cambridge, to spark a reaction, ending up with a police state?
This really goes too far, and makes a mockery of the rule of law.
Massachusetts, the cradle of liberty, and its grave.
So ‘Equal treatment under the law’ is a dead concept?
Thanks for the warning – if an illegal alien hits my vehicle, he, she, or it had better run – fast.
Leave it to Little California…. To make a stupid law like this…. Are they going to make them carry ins like they do the rest of the state? Just asking for a non licensed friend……
Next on the list will be permission to vote. No red tape such as citizenship or registration. Come on EVERYBODY in the pool!!!!
Huh???
This is just another example of the liberal society totally out of control. They have no basis in law – onl philosophical expediency.