Lawmakers in Alabama have proposed invalidating driver’s licenses issued by other states to people without a valid immigration status.
The bill’s sponsor says he got the idea from a provision in Florida’s omnibus illegal immigration bill.
“It seems to be something we might want to look at in Alabama,” said state Senator Arthur Orr during an interview with Alabama Reflector. The Republican said the policy would target “a class of licenses issued by another state exclusively to undocumented immigrants who are unable to prove lawful presence in the United States.”
S.B. 108 would “invalidate any driver license of a nonresident driving a motor vehicle in this state, issued in another state, if the license is of any class of licenses issued exclusively to undocumented immigrants unable to prove lawful presence in the United States.”
Nonresidents who can prove their lawful presence in the country are exempt from the policy, which was passed by the Alabama Senate’s Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development 10-1 on Feb. 21.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 19 states currently issue driver’s licenses to “unauthorized immigrants.” The list includes California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. Those applying for a license in these states may be asked to provide a foreign birth certificate, foreign passport, or consular card and evidence of current residency in the state.
“In 2023, Minnesota became the most recent state to enact legislation allowing individuals to get driver’s licenses without proof of lawful presence (HB 4/SB 27),” noted the NCSL.
Pro-immigration advocates oppose S.B. 108, which they believe would not have a significant impact.
Allison Hamilton, interim executive director of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, told Alabama Reflector that illegal immigrants in Alabama do not use out-of-state licenses. She also argued that the legislation could deter illegal immigrants from coming to the state, which may pose economic consequences.
“I don’t really think that it’s necessarily going to change the situation on the ground here in Alabama among the people who live here,” she said.
"We’ve seen that play out in Florida and Texas, especially recently, as they’ve implemented more stringent laws against immigrants,” Hamilton continued. “It does deter contractors, and especially in construction, from taking on projects in those states because their workers don’t feel safe working there.”
