The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Proposal to protect the ‘vulnerable in hostile states’
State would give undocumented immigrants drivers licenses that are indistinguishable
Connecticut offered special drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants in 2013. Those licenses will be indistinguishable from other state-issued licenses, if a proposal from Gov. Ned Lamont is passed.
Of the 19 states that offer driving privileges to immigrants lacking permanent legal status, Connecticut is one of only two where the issued licenses are visually distinguishable from other drivers licenses.
That distinction made Connecticut residents “vulnerable in hostile states,” according to a fact sheet on the governor’s proposal.
Florida last year said those licenses, called “drive-only” licenses, would not be honored. At the time, it was estimated that the Florida legislation would affect 61,000 Connecticut residents.
“The Biden Border Crisis has wreaked havoc across the United States and has put Americans in danger,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a May 2023 release. “In Florida, we will not stand idly by while the federal government abandons its lawful duties to protect our country. The legislation I signed today gives Florida the most ambitious anti-illegal immigration laws in the country, fighting back against reckless federal government policies and ensuring the Florida taxpayers are not footing the bill for illegal immigration.”
But because drive-only licenses are indistinguishable in all other states that offer driving privileges to immigrants lacking legal status, only residents in Connecticut and Delaware would be impacted by the Florida legislation.
The Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle Department maintains a list of “out-of-state license classes no longer accepted in Florida.” Only Connecticut and Delaware are on that list.
“Connecticut was proudly one of the first states to offer drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants. That law enabled equitable access to
transportation, a critical component of daily life and opportunity,” said Lamont spokesperson Julia Bergman. “As some states work to target undocumented people, Connecticut is stepping up to protect its residents by joining the other 17 states which do not have a separate class of license.”
Currently, drive-only licenses are issued for three years but, if Lamont’s proposal passes, they will be issued for six or eight years, as are all other drivers licenses in Connecticut. All visual indicators differentiating drive-only licenses from others will be removed.
The new licenses will not be eligible for REAL ID status, as that is a federally run program, and will state that they are “not for federal identification,” as with all non-REAL ID licenses.
The proposal will be considered by the state legislative transportation committee before it heads to the full General Assembly for approval.