Students in Moscow fight for immigrants’ authorization to drive

Poder of Idaho hopes to reach goal of 10,000 signatures by the time the petition is heard

Monica Carrillo-Casas, February 13, 2023

Garcia is an active community member of Moscow and part of various clubs on campus. He hopes to become a lawyer after finishing his undergrad. (Photo Credit: Monica Carrillo-Casas

MOSCOW, Idaho— Although Idaho’s immigrant community doesn’t compare in numbers to California, there are various undocumented community members who are neighbors, students, workers of what make up the economy within the state of Idaho.

Tomas Garcia is the son of two of them.

“My parents are immigrants and they have experience working in fields,” said Garcia, a student at the University of Idaho. “My dad recently got his citizenship a couple years ago, so it’s interesting to see the difference between being a citizen and not a citizen– seeing him fear over driving was one of the biggest concerns and no one should have that fear.”

With over 28,000 undocumented immigrants, Garcia and other students in Moscow have joined Poder of Idaho with the “Manejando Sin Miedo” Campaign in hopes of passing SB1081– providing undocumented immigrants a driver’s license.

Poder of Idaho is a community organization that “mobilizes and organizes the Latino and immigrant community for cultural and policy change” according to their Facebook page and have been reaching out endlessly to community leaders around Idaho to sign the petition and bring awareness of the importance of this campaign.

“I want to do this,” said Garcia, after hearing about the campaign. “I want to help and I feel like it’s needed for me to do that.”

For some students, like Garcia, it was easy to jump into a project that could benefit many of their relatives and friends but for others, it was a new and eye-opening topic.

Ian Schlater, a senior at Moscow High School, was “skeptical” at first after Eric Medina, lead organizer of Poder of Idaho, reached out to him about the “Manejando Sin Miedo” campaign.

Schlater is a climate activist in Moscow, Idaho and believes in creating "safe spaces" for people and his peers. (Photo Credit: Monica Carrillo-Casas

“I was like ‘how can you be undocumented but have a license?’” said Schlater, a climate activist and leader of the climate justice league. “But when Eric talked about the effects of undocumented people not having licenses and how it’s unsafe for the roads and unsafe for the people that are driving, I felt like it was really important to get behind.”

With an original goal of 5,000, Poder of Idaho has surpassed it and currently has over 7,000 signatures across Idaho agreeing with the importance of SB1081.

Now, trying to reach 10,000, executive director Estefania Mondragon, has seen the latino immigrant community “step up” and sign.

“This is an issue that affects me, myself, as a Mexican American all the way to an undocumented person, all the way to farmers and even my nextdoor neighbors,” Mondragon said. “And I think other states understand this and unfortunately, Idaho, our leadership hasn’t seen this as an issue to move forward.

Poder of Idaho and other community leaders anticipate that the next step for them will be to pressure the senate transportation committee to give SB1081 a hearing.

“I think it’s about time,” Mondragon said. “It’s been 20 years in the making and folks have waited long enough.”