Certain classes of driver's licenses from five states, including three in New England, are no longer valid in Florida under a new immigration law.
The bill prohibits the issuance of a driver's license to anyone who does not provide proof of lawful presence in the U.S. and specifies that out-of-state driver's licenses issued exclusively to undocumented immigrants are invalid in Florida.
Anyone presenting an invalid out-of-state driver's license at a traffic stop may receive a citation. The new law affects some drivers from Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont.
The crackdown on out-of-state licenses is part of larger immigration legislation signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that went into effect on July 1.
"Someone who is in our country illegally and has violated our laws should not possess a government-issued ID which allows them access to state-funded services and other privileges afforded to lawful residents,” DeSantis said in a statement.
Advocates have long argued that providing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants increases public safety.
"The truth of the matter is people are driving back-and-forth from work to home," Werner Oyanadel, executive director of the Connecticut's Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission, said in 2014, as the state opened license applications to undocumented immigrants. He said the difference under the new law would be that those driver's are properly trained. Like other drivers, they must register their vehicles and prove they have purchased insurance
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles published a list of out-of-state license classes that are invalid in Florida:
- Connecticut licenses that indicate "Not For Federal Identification"
- Delaware licenses that indicate "Driving Privilege Only" or "Not Valid for Identification"
- Hawaii licenses that indicate "Limited Purpose Driver’s License" or "Limited Purpose Instruction Permit" or "Limited Purpose Provisional Driver’s License" or "Not Valid for use for official Federal purposes"
- Rhode Island licenses that indicate "Not for Federal Identification" or "Driver Privilege Card" or "Driver Privilege Permit"
- Vermont licenses that indicate "Not for REAL ID Purposes Driver’s Privilege Card" or "Not for REAL ID Purposes Junior Driver’s Privilege Card" or "Not for REAL ID Purposes Learner’s Privilege Card"
About 20 states offer driver's licenses to people who in the country without immigration authorization; Massachusetts opened applications on July 1.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles noted in a release this week that the list of invalidated licenses was subject to change.
The bill, SB 1718, also requires private companies with over 25 employees to use E-Verify, an online employment verification system, to prove workers meet employment eligibility standards. Penalties will be applied to employers who knowingly have immigrants without documentation working for them, with the severity dependent on how many undocumented immigrants were employed.
Additionally, Florida hospitals that accept Medicaid will be required to document whether or not a patient is a United States citizen, and whether or not the patient is an undocumented immigrant.
However, neither citizenship nor legal status will affect their medical care, and undocumented patients will not be reported to immigration authorities.
Critics have said the new immigration legislation is among the harshest state laws in the country and makes life harder for Florida’s roughly 775,000 undocumented immigrants.
