Undocumented Minnesotans continue to apply for state driver’s licenses even as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to re-enter the White House in January and deliver on promises to increase deportations.
Minnesota’s Driver’s License For All law went into effect last October, making Minnesota the 21st state or U.S. territory to allow undocumented people to legally operate a vehicle. Many immigrants at a recent class about how to apply for a license said they’re taking a wait-and-see approach to the Trump administration.
They’re aware of his anti-immigrant rhetoric and plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, but say it’s still speculation at this point. Without permanent legal status, they say, they’re always at risk in the United States, no matter who is in the White House. The licenses are also available to people who are in the country legally but don’t have permanent residency, such as immigrants who have been granted Temporary Protected Status.
“We think that if we are on a good path, it won’t affect us,” Mayreli, a Venezuelan immigrant, said of Trump’s plans.
Mayreli, who is being identified by her first name only because of her immigration status, said most immigrants from her country are professionals who just want to work, and that obtaining a driver’s license and identification card are important steps. Trump’s campaign promises are scary, she said, but she believes he’ll mostly target criminals.
She took the driver’s license exam a week after the election.
The state does not share information about licensed drivers with federal immigration authorities absent a court order, the Minnesota Drivers and Vehicle Services (DVS) office said in a statement to Sahan Journal.
“We only share data as allowed or required by law,” the statement said. “We will only share information if required by a state or federal judge order after exhausting all legal means.”
The first year of Driver’s License for All saw a 500% spike in driver’s license tests taken in Spanish. The test is offered in nine languages, including Dari, French, Hmong, Karen, Pashto, Russian, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.
Minnesota issued 25,223 driver’s licenses to people using foreign birth certificates or passports as documentation this year as of November 13, according to DVS. The department noted that using a foreign document to obtain a license does not necessarily correlate with an applicant’s immigration status, and that details of who used such documentation is not public information or available to law enforcement.
Licenses issued through the law are indistinguishable from other licenses, though non-permanent residents are not eligible for the federally-accepted Real ID, DVS said.
Having a driver’s license prevents undocumented people from ending up in the court system for small traffic violations, which can trigger deportation processes, experts say.
Pursuing a better life
Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Accion Latina (COPAL) hosts driver’s license classes and written exams in south Minneapolis. Exactly a week after the election, a group of 15 attended the early afternoon exam. The group, including Mayreli, sat through an hour-long class on Minnesota driving rules before taking the test.
Attendees included recent arrivals from Venezuela and El Salvador. They see a license as a path to driving, a higher earning potential that comes with it and as a way to obtain a legitimate form of identification. Sahan Journal is identifying attendees by first name only due to their immigration status.
Manuel, an attendee from Venezuela who has lived in Minnesota for about a year, said his feeling about living in the U.S. hasn’t changed despite Trump’s calls for more deportations and for ending programs like Temporary Protected Status that allow people fleeing certain countries to stay in the United States. He said he wants a license because life is much more difficult without a car.
Juan Carlos and his family came to Minnesota a year ago, and are enjoying life in St. Paul. His sister was living there, which made it an attractive destination. The city is spectacular, he said, although getting used to the weather is hard. He came to the United States to provide a better life for his three daughters. Juan Carlos worked as a chauffeur in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, and wants to be able to drive here. He’s looking forward to having a local ID.
“It’s really important,” he said.
Juan Carlos believes people from countries in distress like his will continue to immigrate to the United States no matter who is president. They have an obligation to their children to pursue a better life, he said.
Protections in place
Minnesota’s Driver’s License for All law has safeguards, including data protections, so that law enforcement who check a driver’s license during a traffic stop cannot access immigration data. Federal immigration authorities like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are barred from accessing immigration data through driver’s licenses unless they obtain a warrant, according to DVS.
Trump campaigned on mass deportations, and recently announced plans to appoint Tom Homan to a role he called “border czar,” that will oversee those removals. Homan was appointed as interim-director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the first Trump administration, but was never confirmed by the Senate.
Fears about the federal government using driver’s license information to access information about immigration status arose in the first Trump administration. In late 2019, after New York and New Jersey allowed undocumented residents to obtain licenses, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security sent a memo requesting a study on how those laws impacted enforcement efforts.
ICE has used state driver’s license databases while attempting to identify people in photos in Utah, Vermont and Washington, the Washington Post reported in 2019. The paper reported on a similar practice in Maryland in 2020.
Minnesota has good protections against federal immigration officials using driver’s license data, but they don’t necessarily safeguard against the federal government violating the law, said Julia Decker, policy director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.
It’s unknown what will come of Trump’s campaign promises, Decker said, but threats to immigrants should be taken seriously. States can add protections, but they can’t always stop the federal government from accessing information, she said.
“The reality is that anytime that we as residents are providing our information to any government entity, there is a non-zero possibility that information could fall into another government entity’s hands,” Decker said.
