We have roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US. According to the American Immigration Council, 75,000 undocumented immigrants comprised 24 percent of the Wisconsin immigrant population and 1 percent of the total state population in 2016. 6,640 active DACA recipients lived in Wisconsin as of 2019. 191,163 immigrant workers comprised 6 percent of the state's labor force in 2018. Undocumented immigrants in Wisconsin paid an estimated $156.9 million in federal taxes and $101.1 million in state and local taxes in 2018. Wisconsin DACA recipients and DACA-eligible individuals paid an estimated $15.9 million in state and local taxes in 2018.
These figures alone should motivate legislators to ensure that these workers remain connected to the workforce, including providing a means for them to obtain a legal driver's license. Our ban on these licenses is only 13 years old and prior to 2007, undocumented workers were able to obtain a driver's licenese in Wisconsin. I would work to restore the practice. While it will require some changes in the make-up of the legislature, more than 40 states and the District of Columbia, have enacted 176 laws and 253 resolutions related to immigration.
Many states/legislators are changing/re-evaluating their positions on how we deal with immigration issues on everything from, public health and health care, employment verification, driver’s licenses, in-state tuition, law enforcement, human trafficking, social services to unemployment payments due to COVID-19.
I would work with the Ever's administration on his proposal to restore driver's licenses to undocumented residents and lobby federal legislators to assist with changing these policies.