Work and Family Mobility Act

It’s been a decades-long wait, but unauthorized immigrants in Massachusetts finally will be able to obtain driver’s licenses starting July 1.

After Republican activists gathered enough signatures to make it onto the ballot, the choice to repeal a state law granting the right for undocumented residents to obtain driver’s licenses will now officially be before Massachusetts voters this fall.

Earlier this summer, Massachusetts lawmakers passed a bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain legal driver’s licenses. Now, that legislation is threatened as Republican opponents have surpassed the number of signatures required to get a ballot measure in front of voters this November asking for their final say.

A political committee began the process to repeal a new law to allow undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses, just four days after legislators voted to make Massachusetts the 17th state to do that.