New Jersey driver’s licenses given to undocumented immigrants are “no good” in Florida, that state’s attorney general said Monday. (Photo by New Jersey Monitor)
A fatal crash in Florida earlier this month has immigrant advocates here in New Jersey nervous that migrants with valid Garden State driver’s licenses will be a target if they drive out of state.
Florida officials announced this week that after police pulled over a man Sunday who is in the United States illegally but had a New Jersey driver’s license, authorities turned the man over to immigration agents. Those licenses are “no good here,” Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said.
Uthmeier’s comments came about two weeks after the driver of a tractor-trailer attempted an illegal U-turn on a Florida highway and caused a crash that killed three people. Police say the driver is in the U.S. illegally and had obtained a commercial driver’s license in California. Florida officials after the deadly crash said they would crack down on undocumented immigrant drivers.
“It’s sad, but not surprising, that Republicans are using a tragedy like what happened in Florida to justify their intimidation and discrimination against immigrants,” Rep. Rob Menendez (D-08) said in a statement.
Sen. Joe Cryan (D-Union), a chief sponsor of the New Jersey law that allows people without citizenship to obtain driver’s licenses, questioned why Florida officials would begin a public fight with other states.
“This absolutely heightens the fear even more among immigrant communities, and continues to use what has been good government to the political advantage of some,” Cryan said. “Quite frankly, I find it a horrific thing to do.”
Nineteen states including New Jersey allow all residents, regardless of immigration status, to obtain a driver’s license, part of a push to decrease the number of uninsured drivers on the road. Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, signed the law expanding driver’s license access in 2019, and it took effect in 2021. All drivers have to pass the same test and be insured to be licensed in New Jersey, and licenses do not denote immigration status.
People without legal status are barred from obtaining a New Jersey commercial driver’s license or a Real ID.
A spokesman for Murphy declined to comment. William Connolly, a spokesman for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, said all driver’s licenses issued by New Jersey are valid in other states.
“New Jerseyans who safely operate a vehicle in compliance with state and federal law should be able to utilize their licenses in all U.S. states,” Connolly said. “The MVC will continue to issue commercial and non-commercial driver’s licenses in accordance with state and federal law, upholding the highest safety standards when it comes to licensing drivers.”
Florida police say the man they pulled over on Sunday was driving a white Ram pulling a large car hauler trailer and had stopped his car in a lane of traffic at a green light in a town in northwestern Florida. Police say he spoke only Spanish and “did not understand even the simplest request.” After confirming the man is not a legal resident of the United States, they said, they contacted immigration agents.
“There’s no telling how many illegal aliens are in this country driving large commercial vehicles and putting American families in a safety risk every single day,” Uthmeier said Monday.
He added, “If you have obtained a driver’s license from one of the sanctuary states like California, Washington, or in the case of the driver from last night, New Jersey, those licenses are no good here.”
Nedia Morsy is the executive director of Make the Road New Jersey, an immigration advocacy group that led the fight for driver’s licenses regardless of status. Morsy said the law has been a success in New Jersey, adding that she isn’t surprised about Florida officials’ comments considering escalating anti-immigrant rhetoric nationwide.
She said the community is more anxious and confused because it seems like “the very rules the government has created, they don’t follow them.”
“The Trump administration has sort of created a personal militia that is sort of editing regulations as it sees fit in order to target people of color,” she said.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday that California, New Mexico, and Washington are at risk of losing federal funding because they are not enforcing President Donald Trump’s executive order that commercial truck drivers must be proficient in English.
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