Niraj Warikoo | Detroit Free Press

Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press

Secretary of State

Michigan House bills recently introduced would require the driver's license for many legal immigrants to have visual markers indicating the length of their immigration status, raising concerns from immigrant advocacy groups who say it will lead to profiling and discrimination.

A pair of House bills proposed last month by Republicans, state Rep. Pamela Hornberger, R-Chesterfield Township, and state Rep. Beth Griffin, R-Mattawan, call for the driver's licenses of noncitizens to state when the legal status of the license holder expires and also to be "visually marked," indicating they are different from regular licenses.

The bills, which deal with both driver's licenses and state identification cards, are now being considered by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. A committee hearing is planned for Tuesday.

"I expect them to not have a great deal of resistance in committee and come out fairly quickly once we can get the hearing process over," said Rep. Triston Cole, R-Mancelona, chair of the committee considering the bills.

Cole, who supports the bills, said the requirements can help prevent undocumented immigrants from having driver's licenses after their legal status expires.

But some immigrants, who are already anxious over the toughening of immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump, are concerned about the bill.

In a letter sent to Cole, an attorney for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, Anna Hill, said the legislation was redundant since the Secretary of State already issues the license for only as long as a person's immigration status.

Moreover, Hill said, the bills would lead to profiling of legal immigrants.

"Any designation that an individual is a noncitizen or reference to a person’s legal presence, is bound to lead to discrimination, raise the potential for racial profiling, and harm public safety," Hill wrote. "This type of marking on state licenses and identifications would send a message that certain Michigan residents have second-class status that could lead landlords, banks and other businesses, as well as a wide range of public services providers, to treat noncitizen residents differently."

Michigan House Republicans

She said the visual markings could lead to more immigrants being detained by police.

"These markings could create confusion for local law enforcement, who may take it as signal that a person lacks immigration status, or otherwise question their identity, which can lead to arrest and, in some cases, deportation," Hill said.

"Fear of such situations in the immigrant community is always greatly harmful to local law enforcement’s ability to maintain trust with the communities they serve. It could also discourage some drivers from obtaining a marked license, or from presenting an expired license or identification when needed. Marked licenses can also create great difficulty for individuals when traveling to other states, where they may experience unchecked discrimination. This would be especially problematic for Michigan’s migrant

farm workers," said Hill.

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Another problem, Hill said, is that there are often situations where an immigrant has legal status, but they are not recorded in a timely manner in government computer systems. If the bills become law, some could have licenses that inaccurately say they are out of status.

"These individuals would be left with licenses or IDs that indicate they aren’t legally present, when in fact, they are," she said. "In many cases, an individual will renew his or her immigration status sometime after obtaining a license or ID, and so will have legal presence past the date on the license. While they may then renew their license or ID, current wait times for reverification of new immigration documents using the USCIS SAVE (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program) system can take a month or longer."

An analysis of the bill by the House said, under the proposed changes, "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."

Ruby Robinson, supervising attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said that immigrants could face "stereotyping, profiling" with the different licenses, leading to problems with getting loans from banks to dealing with police encounters.

Hornberger and Griffin, who introduced the bills, didn't return e-mails and phone calls seeking comment.

Cole defended the bills, saying "these just comply with federal guidelines that ... the end date for them to be valid coincides with the end date for the immigration status."

"So, it's not stopping someone from getting ... a driver's license," Cole added. "It just says when your immigration status is over, so is your valid state ID and your state driver's license. And if that changes, and visas are renewed or your immigration status is extended, well then you get another state ID and/or another driver's license."

Cole also dismissed concerns about the license looking different from a regular license.

"There's not a lot of room for a big, visual marker on a state ID or a driver's license ... so I don't think that's going to be an issue," Cole said.

Fred Woodhams, spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office, which issues driver's licenses said "the bills would write into law what has been the practice of the Secretary of State’s Office for more than five years. They specifically deal with limited-term licenses, which are issued to foreign nationals who are temporarily in the United States, such as college students. ... We are not aware of any problems the licenses have caused for those carrying them."

In 2013, Secretary of State Ruth Johnson announced the state would grant driver's licenses to DACA recipients, the children of undocumented immigrants who were given authorization by then-President Barack Obama to study and work in the U.S. Those limited-term driver's licenses are also used for other immigrant groups and have the letters "LT" on them to indicate they are limited-term, Woodhams said. He said they have not received complaints about them. Woodhams added that immigrants who have permanent legal presence in the U.S. get standard licenses.

Regarding the concerns of immigrant groups about the proposed bills, Woodhams said "we have been having conversations with immigrant rights groups to address their concerns and find a mutually acceptable resolution."

Another recent issue arose related to driver's licenses, but it pertained to undocumented immigrants. Last year, state Reps. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, and Dave Pagel, R-Oronoko Township, introduced two House bills that would allow residents who could not show their legal status to get driver's licenses or state identification cards.

“Every day in this state and in my district, which includes southwest Detroit, thousands of people get in their cars and drive without a license or insurance," Chang said. "This is not because they want to break the law, but because Michigan law will not allow them to obtain driver’s licenses. It is bad policy and a danger to anyone driving on Michigan roads."

The bill for undocumented immigrants was opposed by Republican leaders and stalled in the transportation committee.

Woodhams said that regarding the bill last year by Chang and Pagel, the Secretary of State's Office "has not taken a position on it at this time. If the House committee takes up the bill, we will review and decide then whether to take a position on it."