Gov. Phil Murphy has said he supports extending access to driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants, and so has Stephen Sweeney, the Democratic president of the state Senate, and several other Democratic state lawmakers.

But on Wednesday, a trio of Republican state lawmakers from Ocean County began pushing back and trying to collect public support with an online petition opposing efforts that would grant driving privileges to undocumented immigrants who live in New Jersey.

Sen. Christopher J. Connors, Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf and Assemblywoman DiAnne C. Gove launched the petition to counter the November introduction of legislation that would allow the state to issue driver's licenses to people who are unable to prove they are in the United States lawfully. The petition, which was launched on Wednesday morning and had more than 780 signatures by 1 p.m, also opposes what they termed as Murphy's "efforts to turn New Jersey into a sanctuary state."

"Along with the benefits that New Jersey already has in place for illegal aliens, including free in-state college tuition, allowing them to obtain driver's licenses will firmly establish New Jersey as a sanctuary state. It's not surprising in the least that this proposal has drawn outrage from across our legislative district,'' the lawmakers said in a statement.

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State lawmakers introduced a bill in November to create two types of licenses: one compliant with the federal Real ID Act that would let users board domestic flights, and one strictly for driving that would be issued to immigrants without legal status, certain senior citizens and others who lack documentation. If the bill were to be adopted, it could benefit up to 460,000 undocumented immigrants living in New Jersey, said Erika Nava, a policy analyst for New Jersey Policy Perspective, a left-leaning think tank.

Even though there is support for the bill from Democrats, they also face some challenges to get the bill to a vote. In November, all 80 seats in the Assembly will be on the ballot, and some political observers have said they expect Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, who is leading the Assembly Democratic campaign, to stay clear of proposals like the driver's license bill that could make his members targets of political attack ads.

The online petition comes two days after the Let's Drive NJ Campaign, which is lobbying for the driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants, released results of a poll it commissioned that found 54 percent of 561 voters surveyed support legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to be issued driver’s licenses, while 29 percent opposed it and 17 percent said they were unsure. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.13 percentage points.

In an effort to fight the Trump administration's stepped-up enforcement against immigrants in the country illegally, the state has joined other states in several lawsuits against the federal government. In addition, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced in November a new directive that restricts local law enforcement from participating in federal immigration operations. Under the rule, local police officers in New Jersey can no longer stop, search or detain any individual over immigration status or detain immigrants at the request of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, except in cases of serious or violent crimes or final deportation orders.