Texas Judge Orlinda Naranjo ruled last week that Texas can no longer deny drivers licenses to immigrants in the country on temporary visas and that it cannot issue a different looking license to them. The invalidated law also sets the drivers’ license expiration date to coincide with the expiration date of the immigrant’s temporary visa. Judge Naranjo said that Texas exceeded its authority when it established this unlawful policy in 2008 which requires immigrants to prove that they are in the country legally when applying for a driver’s license. Critics of the law revealed that Republican Representative Jim Pitts deliberately added this anti-immigrant provision at the last minute to an urgent education funding law. The Republican Governor of Texas, Rick Perry strongly supported the law which was set to take effect in September.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) sued the State of Texas on behalf of six immigrants and a local business that hires immigrants under a federal temporary worker program. The lawsuit established that the invalidated law violates the civil liberties of immigrants and authorizes and requires the use of racial profiling. MALDEF attorneys characterized the law as “misguided” and said that it was an irrational policy that illegally discriminates against lawful temporary residents and their families. They added that the improper law caused extreme financial hardships to hundreds of local businesses that hire legally admitted temporary workers.
MALDEF attorneys filed the lawsuit after learning of hundreds of victims that complained that they were wrongly denied drivers’ licenses. These included those that were born in homes to midwives and those that hold valid temporary visas issued by the federal government. The victims reported that Texas Department of Public Safety (Motor Vehicle) employees did not know how to recognize federal visas which often forced the immigrants to make multiple trips to the agency. Many reported multiple wrongful denials and some qualified immigrants never got a drivers license.
Thomas Saenz, the President and General Legal Counsel of MALDEF said “as a nation of immigrants, our tradition, too often violated historically and today, is to welcome immigrants and incorporate them into our society, cognizant of the enduring contributions immigrants have made and continue to make.” MALDEF attorney Marisa Bono added that the Texas agency “created havoc by attempting to inject its political agenda into the lawmaking process.”
This case is very important to immigrants and to immigrant rights and civil liberties organizations. Denying drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants is common and popular in many states but this recent Texas law expands the attack to include immigrants that have been granted temporary visas by the federal government. This case demonstrates once again that prompt legal action has been able to stop the implementation of invalid anti-immigrant laws. The State of Texas has indicated that it will appeal this decision. MALDEF attorneys have indicated that they will be prepared for any such appeal.