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Its inspiring to see Gov. Charlie Baker, the governor of the original profiles in courage state, living up to the tradition praised by former President John F. Kennedy as acting with grace under pressure. Thats just what Gov. Baker did recently, when he vetoed legislation that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain Massachusetts drivers licenses. This kind of political courage doing whats right regardless of pressure to the contrary rarely occurs but is commendable when it does.

True, the state House and Senate have overridden his veto. The GOP governor had every reason to expect they would, given the lopsided Democratic tilt of the 192nd Massachusetts General Court. Nevertheless, he put his duty to the states lawful residents first. Because of his action and provided that the petition to hold a referendum to repeal the law receives the necessary 41,000 signatures by Aug. 24 the people of the Bay State will have the opportunity to decide whether this act will stand.

Through nearly eight years in office, Baker has seldom hesitated to air differences with fellow Republicans which is one reason he enjoys such steady support among independents and Democrats. Hes one of the few remaining examples of that now-endangered political species: the pragmatic Eisenhower Republican. His independence from current political and ideological currents makes his case against drivers licenses for illegal immigrants all the more compelling. It was driven not by ideology but by a clear-eyed understanding of what is at stake.

In his veto statement to the Legislature, Baker specifically cited concerns about the inevitable degradation of identity documents issued by Massachusetts, including the risk of compromising future Bay State elections, due to the unreliable new process for obtaining a drivers license, now set to take effect in July 2023. While the new law requires two forms of identification, they can include foreign documents whose validity the Registry of Motor Vehicles is in no position to verify and that are easily counterfeited by the criminal gangs which already supply forged and stolen documents to unlawful residents.

As Baker noted, a standard Massachusetts drivers license will no longer confirm that a person is who they say they are.

In fact, vital as concerns about document security are, the reasons to oppose this legislation go well beyond them.

First of all, it is simply common sense that making drivers licenses so easily available will make Massachusetts a more attractive destination for illegal immigrants. Most states do not grant this privilege. Massachusetts will join the 16 plus the District of Columbia that do.

Already as of 2019, some 250,000 people resided here illegally. The Boston metropolitan area ranked 11th nationally for the size of its illegal migrant population in 2018. With 3 million people entering the country illegally in 2021-22, many more will soon be arriving here.

Higher levels of illegal immigration also strain state budgets through increased demand for social services. One estimate put the cost of illegal immigration in Massachusetts in 2022 at $1.86 billion.

And immigration, in both its illegal and legal forms, also suppresses wages for American workers and legal immigrants already here. As Harvard immigration expert George J. Borjas himself an immigrant has noted, Wage trends over the past half-century suggest that a 10% increase in the number of workers with a particular set of skills probably lowers the wage of that group by at least 3%.

Of course, most illegal immigrants are relatively low-skilled, so they compete directly with the most disadvantaged Americans. Borjas wrote in 2016 that the wages of high-school dropouts were $800-$1,500 lower per year because of the 25% increase in the size of that demographic group due to arrivals of unskilled immigrants in recent decades. Partly as a result, unskilled native workers are dropping out of the labor force in record numbers.

Bakers veto of this legislation shows he understands the risks that illegal migration poses for this state and its workers. The Legislature, sadly, does not. If the petition to repeal this law receives enough signatures to place the issue on the ballot in November the people will cast the deciding vote.

Steve Kropper and John Thompson are the Democratic and Republican co-chairs of the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform.

Read more:
Kropper and Thompson: On immigration, Charlie Baker is a profile in courage - Boston Herald