It’s Wednesday, last week, the second day of the group’s hunger strike.
The group of seven stands inside the state capitol building. Gema Lowe is passing out vitamins.
So far, there are some headaches, but everyone is getting through.
This hunger strike, is just the latest tactic in a campaign that has been going on for years.
Lowe and the organization she works with, Cosecha Michigan, have done marches. They shut down a highway. They did a 60 mile walk from Grand Rapids to Lansing.
“We were hopeful that last year when the Democrats got the majority, it would be easier to push them,” Lowe said.
To push them on a package of bills that Lowe and other activists say is crucial for the safety of thousands of immigrant families in Michigan. The bills would change state law so that people could get a driver’s license regardless of their immigration status.
One of the hunger strikers is a woman named Sandra, who says she’s lived in Grand Rapids for 23 years. Michigan Public is not sharing her last name because she says she does not have legal status in the U.S., and fears deportation.
She says she has to drive to take care of her two young kids, who are citizens. But she’s worried about getting in legal trouble with Donald Trump returning to the White House.
“Because I think that police will be stopping people without reason just because they see my color, my last name maybe,” Sandra said. “So I am so worried about that.”
Sandra and the other hunger strikers stand outside the House chamber doors at the capitol, with white T-shirts that read “Hunger Strike, Driver’s Licenses.” They’re trying to get lawmakers to notice them.
But the hallway is crowded and noisy. They’re not the only ones trying to get attention as the legislative session comes to a close.
Having problems getting support
Gema Lowe spots Rachel Hood, who represents Grand Rapids, and who introduced the driver’s license bills last year.
“We are still working folks on this issue,” Hood tells her. “We are still having problems getting to 56.”
Fifty-six being the exact number of votes they need to pass the bill and the exact number of Democrats in the state House. Even one person in the party who hesitates can hold up the bill.
But none of that really mattered at that point last week because Hood told Lowe the bill isn’t just stalled. It’s moving backwards.
“Do you know why?” Lowe asked.
“The messaging from law enforcement,” Hood replied.
People in law enforcement are against the bills Hood said, and so lawmakers are backing away.
“I think our laws in how to obtain a driver’s license or a state ID here in Michigan are where they need to be,” said Matt Saxton, executive director of the Michigan Sheriffs' Association and a retired sheriff himself.
Saxton said he’s not against the bills because of moms like Sandra.
Instead, he cites the terror attacks of 9/11 when the hijackers - who initially immigrated legally to the U.S. - were able to attend flight school in Florida because they had U.S. driver’s licenses.
Saxton worries about other people coming into the country and using a Michigan driver’s license to do bad things.
“It legitimizes that individual as a lawful resident of the state of Michigan,” Saxton said.
The last chance
Rumor among the hunger strikers this week was that at least four Democrats in the state House agreed with this view. And this week was the last shot to convince them otherwise.
Because of how the legislative calendar works, Wednesday was the last day for the bill to pass the House and still have a chance of becoming law.
The hunger strikers were there. Lowe was trying to hold out hope. Republicans didn’t show up at all. Two Democrats, one in the House and one in the Senate, also refused to show up.
“So they both, (they're) non active in both sides,” Lowe said, pointing from one end of the capitol rotunda to the other.
The legislators who did show up in the House took a long lunch, then the democrats held a meeting, then they just went into recess.
It was over.
“It was a long campaign, it was as close as we could get,” Lowe said. “And yeah, disappointing.”
The group would drive back to Grand Rapids and end the hunger strike there, Lowe said.
She said the driver’s license bills were the one thing Democrats in the state could’ve done to protect immigrant families before Donald Trump takes office, and the Democrats failed.
She said her group isn’t done fighting.
But next year, she said, will be a hard year.
