BOSTON — As a Maine police department dukes it out with the feds over the recent arrest of one of its own, backlash has reignited over a law that allows undocumented immigrants in Massachusetts to gain driver’s licenses.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has reiterated that the Registry of Motor Vehicles does not request information on or track immigration status for standard license applicants or holders.
Bay State Republican commentators argue the lax approach opened the door for Jamaican national Jon Luke Evans to gain a job with the Old Orchard Beach Police Department as a seasonal reserve officer in the coastal Maine resort town.
Evans is said to have provided a Massachusetts driver’s license in the spring when applying for the role that he began earlier this summer. Agents with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston bureau arrested the officer in late July after he allegedly admitted that he tried to buy a gun for the position.
Evans also submitted his Jamaican birth certificate and passport, U.S. Social Security and work authorization cards and proof of college credit to Old Orchard’s human resources as part of the application, officials have said.
The feds accuse Evans of overstaying his visa, but officials in Old Orchard Beach argue the police department had been notified by the Department of Homeland Security during the hiring review that his work permit cleared him to be employed in the U.S. until March 2030.
Republican critics in Massachusetts say the debacle may have been avoided if not for the so-called Work and Family Mobility Act, which provides a pathway to driver’s licenses for noncitizens who can provide some form of documentation.
“Without a valid driver’s license from Massachusetts, this illegal alien may not have qualified to become a police officer in Maine,” MassGOP Chairwoman Amy Carnevale said in a statement shared with the Herald. “Massachusetts Republicans urge the Commonwealth to rethink the wisdom of granting driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.”
“The risks are just too great,” she added.
A MassDOT spokesperson told the Herald on Sunday that the RMV “received notice from Maine in May that this individual applied for a Maine license. Whenever the RMV receives notice that a license holder has received an out-of-state credential, it immediately acts to rescind the Massachusetts license.”
Under the Work and Family Mobility Act, which the state Legislature passed in May 2022 and took effect in July 2023, individuals in the U.S. without legal status can obtain a standard, five-year Massachusetts driver’s license if they provide at least two documents proving their identity and date of birth.
At least 19 states and the District of Columbia allow undocumented immigrants to gain driver’s licenses.
Evans entered the U.S. on Sept. 24, 2023, at Miami International Airport, but he violated the terms of his lawful admission when he overstayed his visa, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said.
Evans was scheduled to depart the U.S. on Oct. 1, 2023, but he never boarded the flight.
Maine is one of more than a dozen states in the U.S. that allow noncitizens to work in law enforcement.
MassDOT told the Herald that the RMV does not request or track immigration status on driver’s licenses, when asked to provide the number of licenses issued to undocumented immigrants since the law’s implementation.
The transportation department, instead, provided data showing the total number of driving licenses issued over the past few years.
Within the first year of the law, 387,284 were provided to applicants across the state, up from the 270,012 the year before. The number dropped to 326,131 between July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025.
Gov. Maura Healey’s administration declined to comment on Evans’ arrest in Maine and how it believes the Work and Family Mobility Act has fared over its first two years.
“The fact that Gov. Healey’s administration doesn’t track illegal immigrants who obtain a Massachusetts driver’s license is by design, and not an oversight,” Paul Diego Craney, spokesman for state watchdog, the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, told the Herald.
“Former Gov. Charlie Baker warned the public about this law when it was before him as legislation,” Craney added. “He vetoed it but Gov. Healey has taken the opposite approach and embraced it to use for political purposes.”
Lawmakers overruled Baker’s objections, opening the opportunity for those without legal status to seek driver’s licenses.
“I cannot sign this legislation because it requires the Registry of Motor Vehicles to issue state credentials to people without the ability to verify their identity,” Baker said in a veto letter. “The Registry does not have the expertise or ability to verify the validity of many types of documents from other countries.”
Language included in the Work and Family Mobility Act bars the state from releasing any information related to a Massachusetts license holder, documentation that had been considered public and easily accessible from MassDOT before the law went into effect.
Supporters have said it is necessary to keep the information of a Massachusetts driver private to protect their immigration status, or lack thereof.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve told the Herald that he would seek to repeal the law if he’s elected as the next governor.
“It sends the wrong message, undermines the rule of law, and comes with real security and voting risks,” he said. “The insanity ends when I’m governor.”
Story by Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.
