Gavin Newsom, the Democratic Governor of California, has officially signed a new bill package in relation to illegal immigrants this past week which includes the approval to start issuing a state identification card to all migrants living in the state.
Titled AB 1766, the new bill that was signed by Newsom orders the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to hand out a restricted Identification card to any and all eligible participants by no later than the first of July, 2027.
“California is expanding opportunity for everyone, regardless of immigration status,” explained Newsom in a release.
“We’re a state of refuge – a majority-minority state, where 27 percent of us are immigrants. That’s why I’m proud to announce the signing of today’s bills to further support our immigrant community, which makes our state stronger every single day,” he stated.
Generations of immigrants have helped shape California’s culture and economic success. With this legislation, California continues to advance equity and expand opportunity for all.https://t.co/2k9Jdpjzgk
— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) September 23, 2022
The text of the new law reads, “This bill would specify that immigration enforcement, as defined, does not constitute an urgent health and safety need for those purposes, and would prohibit a government agency or department, law enforcement agency, commercial entity, or other person from obtaining, accessing, using, or otherwise disclosing, noncriminal history information maintained by the department, for the purpose of immigration enforcement.”
This change would stop the DMV from utilizing the migrant status as a factor when attempting to get state-issued identification.
The bill comes in the wake of another controversy that took place in the state back in 2018 when over 1,500 people, which included groups of non-citizens, were illegally registered to vote in California by officials with the DMV. Then-California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D), who has since moved up the ranks to be a U.S. Senator, stated that he had no clue if any of those who had been registered had actually taken part in the voting for the state’s primary election back in June of 2018.
Roughly 1,500 people expressed to the DMV that they were ineligible or did not confirm their eligibility as part of the registration period, as reported by a release from the Associated Press. This particular group included at least one non-citizen residing in the state in addition to a bevy of other possible violations. People below the age of 18 were also included in the incident, reportedly, along with some who could have been rendered ineligible because of a previous criminal conviction.
Other which ended up signed in the large package of laws concerning illegal immigrants included a series of measures set up on behalf of immigrants living in the state.
“Immigrant students will have improved access to in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, and to ESL courses at community colleges. Additionally, immigrant student borrowers will have more options to finance their college educations,” explained the recent news release.
One controversial change which comes from SB 1141 will allow the use of in-state tuition for all California public universities for all qualified undocumented residents of the state, offering “exemption from payment of nonresident tuition.”
