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BOSTON (State House News Service) — Massachusetts driver's licenses will remain valid in Florida, despite the Sunshine State's new law prohibiting recognition of some licenses from states that allow undocumented immigrants to legally drive.
As of July 1, some licenses from Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii and Vermont have been considered "invalid" in Florida, as a result of an immigration law Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed earlier this year. All four of these states issue driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.
"Florida will not accept driver licenses from those who cannot provide proof of lawful presence in the United States. By doing this, we commit to a safer Florida," said Florida Highway Patrol Executive Director Dave Kerner.
But for Massachusetts, which on July 1 began implementing a new law allowing undocumented immigrants to legally drive, the Florida law won't apply.
Bay State licenses have stayed off the list of those no longer accepted by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, because Massachusetts issues the same standard driver's license to everyone -- regardless of their legal status in the U.S.
Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii and Vermont created a different class of licenses which indicate that a person could not prove lawful presence. These licenses are specifically marked, indicating that they cannot be used for federal identification, and are intended only to allow driving privileges to card holders.
Due to the way the Florida law is written, the state can only ban licenses given exclusively to undocumented immigrants, according to Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles spokesperson Molly Best.
"The Massachusetts Work and Family Mobility Act that went into effect July 1st allows undocumented immigrants to obtain a 'Standard' license. The standard license is issued to individuals who have lawful presence but aren't REAL ID and to those that cannot show lawful presence," Best said. "Florida Senate Bill 1718, which went into effect on July 1, 2023, specifies that certain driver licenses and permits issued by other states exclusively to unauthorized immigrants are not valid in this state per s. 322.033, Florida Statute."
In fact, the new Massachusetts license law explicitly prohibits the Registry of Motor Vehicles from tracking data on whether a person applying for a license is documented or not.
"When processing an application for a Massachusetts license pursuant to this section the registrar shall not inquire about or create a record of an applicant's citizenship or immigration status. When processing an application for registration or renewal of a motor vehicle submitted by an applicant who holds a Massachusetts license the registrar shall not inquire about or create a record of an applicant's citizenship or immigration status," the law says.
RMV Registrar of Motor Vehicles Colleen Ogilvie told reporters earlier this week that she could not provide a breakdown of how many of the 2,800 learner's permits issued since the law took effect on July 1 were newly-eligible undocumented immigrants.
Asked for this breakdown, Ogilvie said "We will not be able to answer that because the law prohibits us from looking at the data that way. From our perspective, it is all people that have gotten a new permit, whether it's a 16-year-old for the first time, or an adult that is suddenly now obtaining a license."
Whether to issue the same, indistinguishable, standard license to everyone or create a new type of permit for undocumented immigrants was one of the major points of debate during the process of passing the so-called Work and Family Mobility Act last year.
Republicans filed several amendments that would have created a distinctive license for those without legal status, which were shot down by Democrats.
Republican lawmakers argued that since standard licenses are used as identification for things other than just driving, such as voting, that it was important to make a visual distinction between the two permits.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr filed an amendment that would have made the licenses given to undocumented immigrants a different color than standard permits, one that would have marked the licenses "not for identification" and an amendment that would have required two types of photo identification to apply.
"It is our highest responsibility to ensure that when we act in this chamber, in order to remedy one thing, that we do not cause problems for public safety, and our voting system, and identification, because the instrumentality we talk about today, the driver's license, is the most recognizable and most relied upon instrument of identification in our society," Tarr said during a debate over the bill last May.
Senate Democrats rejected all 15 amendments that Tarr filed, including three by roll calls of 8-31, 7-32 and 9-30.
"There's really no need for anyone to know what the citizenship status is of the drivers who plan to earn a driver's license under this bill," Sen. Brendan Crighton said in response to Tarr.
He added, "It is unnecessary for these licenses to be marked in any other way. The proposed distinctive ID would lead to stigma, an opportunity for anyone to see the license and to discriminate against the card holder. It could have a chilling effect on what we're really trying to do here today, which is to make our roads safer."
Sarang Sekhavat, political director for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), said that though the Florida law does not affect Massachusetts, advocates are worried about other states looking to ban licenses given to undocumented immigrants.
"This is certainly something that's on our radar, not just because of what Florida is doing, but, you know, there's a lot of efforts to do these kinds of things in other states as well, really just having a national impact on folks," Sekhavat said.
Gov. Maura Healey told reporters on Monday that the licenses given to undocumented immigrants should be valid in other states.
"These are Massachusetts driver's licenses," she said. "And they should be honored by other states."
Written by Sam Drysdale/SHNS
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