Immigrants and 'Driver's Licenses for All': 4 key questions, answered

Updated: Feb. 18, 11:35 a.m. | Posted: Feb. 17, 1:16 p.m.

This story comes to you from Sahan Journal through a partnership with MPR News.

By Hibah Ansari | Sahan Journal

Immigrants lacking permanent legal status can’t get driver’s licenses in Minnesota, but that could change this year if a bill passes the state Legislature. 

Known as Driver’s Licenses For All, the bill would make nearly 81,000 residents eligible to apply for and obtain driver’s licenses regardless of their immigration status.

It would end a rule dating back to 2003 and the Pawlenty administration that requires applicants show proof of legal residence in the United States, such as a Social Security number, when applying for a Minnesota driver’s license or state identification card. 

The bill passed the Minnesota House on Jan. 30. The state Senate is now discussing the bill in committee sessions. With DFL majorities in both houses, observers believe there’s a good chance it will pass. DFL Gov. Tim Walz has said he’ll sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

Sahan Journal spoke to state officials and immigration advocates about the process of obtaining a driver’s license and what could change if the bill becomes law. Here are answers to some key questions that newly eligible immigrants may face.

1) What documents will I need?

Regardless of immigration status, applicants will still have to prove their identity and their Minnesota residency through, for example, an energy bill or rent receipt.

Applicants must live in Minnesota for at least 60 days in order to apply for a license, said state Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis, a key supporter of the driver’s license bill.

“You have to prove you’re a Minnesota resident, so you can’t come from Wisconsin and say, ‘I’m going to get a Minnesota driver’s license,’” she said. “You would be attesting under perjury, by the way, and unauthorized folks don’t want to get in trouble with the law.”

Lawmakers and advocates stressed that if the bill passes, unauthorized people will receive the same driver’s license as citizens and lawful permanent residents. 

Despite efforts by some Republicans in the Minnesota House, the current bill does not require the state to mark licenses for unauthorized drivers differently from standard licenses.

Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, executive director of advocacy group Unidos Minnesota, advises unauthorized immigrants who want to apply for a license to gather their documents, such as consular identification cards, birth certificates, and foreign unexpired passports, as soon as possible.

“Those are federal identity documents that have high security from governments, so people should not worry that they’re fake,” Gonzalez Avalos said. 

The state’s current rules for obtaining a driver’s license accept those same documents from immigrants with lawful residency.

Gonzalez Avalos recommends that would-be drivers start studying for the written exam given to all applicants that tests their knowledge of state traffic laws, and be ready to make appointments as soon as the bill is signed into law.

State officials say they’re preparing already to handle the increased demand.

2) What happens if I’m pulled over?

The state’s driver’s license system does not share immigration data with police when police check a driver’s license during a traffic stop.

“What law enforcement is making sure is, is that credential real?” said Jody-Kay Peterson, Minnesota’s director of driver services. “The data it’s showing is not linking to if [drivers are] here lawfully.”

Zaynab said lawmakers ensured that the bill protects personal data so federal immigration authorities can’t access a license holder’s immigration status unless they have a warrant to do so. 

Gonzalez Avalos emphasized the strong data protections in the bill and efforts to make sure licenses for unauthorized immigrants won’t look different from current licenses.

“Most of the actions that can harm immigrants will be based on interpersonal assumptions and discrimination, which are already prohibited in systems, supposedly. It goes against the Equal Opportunity Act, it goes against non-discrimination policies,” Gonzalez Avalos said. 

“If people assume that because you have an accent or because you look non-white that you might be undocumented, and if they act upon that assumption and call ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] on their discretion, I wouldn’t even want to imagine the types of lawsuits they would be facing,” Gonzalez Avalos added. “And they will lose.”

Myriam Parada, a 26-year-old Mexican immigrant, was pulled over by Anoka County police in 2017 for driving without a license. She was held for immigration enforcement after officers in the county jail found out she wasn’t born in the United States. After a five-year legal battle, a federal court ruled in late 2022 that the county discriminated against Parada. The county has since ended this practice.

Gonzalez Avalos noted that the bill has a lot of support from law enforcement. Officers who go “above and beyond” their discretion to report a driver born outside of the United States do so for their own political ideologies, she said.

“Driver’s licenses won’t solve all the problems, they will solve some,” Gonzalez Avalos said. “But people won’t be safe until we build an immigration system that allows families to stay together.”

She said Unidos Minnesota will work with its network to intervene if immigrants with valid licenses are discriminated against.

3) Is there a separate path for ‘dreamers’?

Yes. Another route toward obtaining a driver’s license, called the “variance process,” is commonly used for people living in the United States under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also as “dreamers.”

The deferred action designation allows some people who immigrated to the country as unauthorized children to stay in the United States for two-year intervals, which can be renewed.

Licenses for such immigrants are valid for the time period the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says the immigrant is legally allowed to stay in the country. Officials say licenses obtained through the variance process look identical to licenses obtained through the standard route and are not marked in any way to look differently.

“The challenge on anything that has a temporary immigration remedy is going to be the timestamp,” said Gonzalez Avalos of Unidos Minnesota. “And that has become a problem specifically with [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] delays, because if folks are not able to submit renewal documentation, their license expires that day period.”

4) What if English isn’t my first language?

Driver’s manuals translated into Somali, Spanish and Hmong are available. In addition to English, Driver and Vehicle Services offers the written driver’s test in other languages, including Somali, Hmong, Karen, Spanish, Vietnamese and Russian.

For the state’s growing Afghan refugee population, the agency is working on translating the knowledge test into Dari and Pashto. It’s also working with advocates to organize an interpreter who can work with a group of up to four Afghan refugees at a time who are taking the written test.

Applicants can arrange for an interpreter to attend their written test. An examiner will read the test’s questions to the interpreter, who then translates the test for the applicant. The interpreter must have a valid Minnesota driver’s license. It’s the applicant’s responsibility to find an interpreter.

An interpreter is not allowed in the vehicle during the road test. Only the applicant and a Driver and Vehicle Services examiner are allowed.

Correction (Feb. 18, 2023): A previous version of this story had an incorrect date associated with a rule related to driver’s licenses. The above story has been updated.

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