Michigan immigrant driver's license bill changed after complaints

After complaints raised by immigration advocacy groups, Michigan legislators have modified a pair of House bills on driver's licenses and state IDs for immigrants. On Tuesday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved modified bills, sending them to the House floor. 

When first introduced last month by two Republican state representatives, the bills were strongly opposed by immigrant advocates with the Michigan Immigrants Rights Center, which said they could lead to profiling.

One part of the original bill said "the license shall be visually marked indicating that it is issued for a term that expires on the date the licensee is no longer considered to be legally present in the United States."

That part has now been removed, immigrant advocates said Tuesday. 

In addition, the modified bill now includes a section that makes it clear the bill is for those with "temporary lawful status," not immigrants who have permanent legal status. The previous bill was unclear on that point. 

The bills had alarmed immigrant groups that said they would have led to confusion and driver's licenses that could hurt immigrants with inaccurate information.

Related story:

Bill means driver's license change for immigrants

A new analysis of the modified bills was posted Tuesday by the House Fiscal Agency, which analyzes Michigan bills.

The analysis it released last month on the bills said: "The card or license would have to be visually marked to indicate that it is issued to an individual who is not a citizen of the United States."

That part is no longer in the analysis released Tuesday.

As a result of the changes, the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center has dropped its objections to the proposed bills, which were done to comply with federal requirements for the Real ID program. The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and other groups advocating for immigrants that had previously raised objections to the bills took a neutral stance at today's committee hearing on the bills. The modified bills were passed unanimously by committee members, with both Democrats and Republicans approving them.

When immigrants renew their legal status, it can take federal computer systems a while to process them, meaning they may still have legal status, but not a license or other documentation that proves it, say advocates.

The original bill had "sloppy language," said Susan Reed, Managing Attorney for the Michigan Immigrants Rights Center. It also would have "turned your little plastic driver's license card into an immigrant judge who can see into the future," Reed said.

The original bill had the state moving toward a "Scarlett Letter A" policy for some immigrants, Reed said.

The new bills "no longer will," Reed said. "It takes out the problematic language."

The driver's licenses for temporary immigrants will continue to have a "LT" on them to indicate they are "limited term." But there won't be any other visual marker or potentially misleading information about immigration status, said Reed.

State Rep. Triston Cole, chair of the transportation committee that approved of the bills, said the changes will help both immigrants and law enforcement. "There won't be any" visual marker requirements now as had been mentioned in the original bill, he said. 

"This really streamlines the process and makes it easier for everyone," Cole said. 

Speaking at the hearing Tuesday before the vote to approve, Cole said: "I really want to thank those that helped to ensure that the verbiage was correct as we made these changes."  

The main goal of the bills was to comply with the REAL ID act, he said. Passed by Congress in 2005, the REAL ID Act "established minimum security standards for state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards," says the Department of Homeland Security's website.

Fred Woodhams, spokesman for Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, said: "We’re pleased to see the bills moving forward without opposition. We continued to have conversations with stakeholder groups to resolve their concerns. The bills codify existing Secretary of State practice as they did as originally drafted but the language is more acceptable to those groups."

Woodhams said if the legislation is eventually passed, the cards for immigrants with temporary legal status will continue to have "LT" on them to indicate they are limited-term license holders.

The bills approved Tuesday by the committee apply to legal immigrants. A separate bill introduced last year by two House Democrats would help undocumented immigrants get driver's licenses. That bill has been stuck in committee and is opposed by Republicans. 

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or 313-223-4792. Follow him on Twitter @nwarikoo