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"This bill is on the fast-track. The governor wants it, Michigan's Secretary of State wants it and the Republican Party that controls both houses of the legislature is not going to stand in the way of legislation that fights terrorism."

That's what Michigan Organizing Project members heard from friends and foes alike when they decided to stand alone to stop HB 5497, a proposed bill that would revoke the right of undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers' licenses.

And despite the doubters and disbelievers, as well as earlier defeats, MOP successfully pulled the brakes on the bill in early March when it entered the State Senate.

Advocates of the legislation connected it to anti-terrorism efforts and an attempt to clamp down on illegal border crossings.

But thousands of MOP members, considered the proposed legislation an attack on one of the few rights undocumented immigrants have in the state, especially one that is key to accessing most societal institutions.

With a driver's license their only means of identification, many undocumented immigrants could not access car insurance, jobs, housing or travel. And for a population that is already exposed to severe exploitation in employment and housing, a driver's license is their only gateway to proper identification, car insurance.

MOP members argued that if the bill was passed, the state would fall into economic disaster once immigrants stopped going to the jobs that no one else wanted to do.

In January, MOP members began meeting with local legislators to voice their opposition to the bill, but suffered their first defeat in the House where it passed both the Transportation Committee and then passed the full House in a margin of 74-30.

While most people were willing to give up, immigrant MOP members pushed the group to continue the fight.

The bill, in the Senate transportation committee, was supported by a 3-2 Republican majority. But MOP members began to put pressure on a soon-to-be swing vote, Republican State Sen. Glen Steil.

In MOP's first meeting with him, Steil originally stuck to the party line that this bill was needed to fight terrorism and would pass easily.

But on March 5, MOP members held a rally to protest the passage of the bill at the committee hearing. MOP called the bill a flagrant racist attack on Hispanics and other immigrants and that it had little to do with anti-terrorism efforts.

Steil was conspicuously absent from the hearing and the subsequent vote, which forced the bill back down into a subcommittee.

After more pressure from MOP members, Steil told the committee chairman he did not support the bill. Two more Republicans soon followed suit and withdrew their support, leaving the chairman as the only supporter of the bill. He cancelled the meeting and the legislation was stalled.

MOP members are currently setting up drivers license centers across the state to help immigrants obtain state identification.