Despite mounting questions, state lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Mark Gordon that would invalidate the driver’s licenses other states issue to people in the country illegally.
If Gordon signs the measure, it will impact licenses from as many as 19 states where undocumented immigrants can legally obtain a driver’s license. Wyoming neighbors Utah and Colorado are among them.
The governor has not commented on the bill but has generally expressed support for President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown.
States that issue the licenses most often give them both to people who have legal status and those who don’t, with a distinction printed on the license that says it’s not valid for federal purposes like voting. Once the bill takes effect in July — if Gordon chooses not to veto it, or if such a veto is overridden by the Legislature — people pulled over with those licenses can expect to have their immigration status checked by local law enforcement.
Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers, sheriff’s deputies and police officers have the ability to check immigration status through their dispatchers, who can communicate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to testimony by law enforcement officials during the bill’s passage through the Legislature. Lawmakers received mixed feedback regarding how long those checks could prolong traffic stops, and some skeptics of the bill argued it could lead to people being detained for questionable periods of time while an officer waits on ICE.
Senators worried, for example, how that might impact tourists who often drive on their home country’s driver’s license. If pulled over for a traffic violation without carrying their passport, would they have to sit and wait while law enforcement checks on their status?
A host of other questions also loom for a bill that may represent a far more significant legal step for Wyoming than debate in the Legislature would have indicated.
Wyoming is likely moving into uncharted territory with the legislation.
Only one other state, Florida, appears to have any similar law on the books, but that legislation was more narrow in its application. Florida lawmakers banned only driver’s licenses that are issued “exclusively” to unauthorized immigrants. That restriction ultimately resulted in the state voiding driver’s licenses from only two states, Delaware and Connecticut.
Senators bemoaned that they didn’t know the consequences of the legislation even as they advanced it, and before the bill’s final senate vote some raised concerns that it would lead to more uninsured drivers on the state’s highways. Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, called it “a little bit disturbing” that lawmakers didn’t have a clear answer. “I wish this discussion would have happened earlier. We probably could have addressed that,” he said. But Hicks called on senators to pass the bill anyway, then come back and fix any issues next year.
“In the meantime, we’ve stepped up,” Hicks said, “we’re consistent with what the federal policy is starting to look like.”
Sen. Tara Nethercott, a Cheyenne Republican, expressed sharp concern the bill might spike the number of uninsured drivers on I-80 and other major byways — saying insurance companies will argue they don’t have to pay for damages if the driver is operating with an invalid license. That could leave Wyoming residents who are the victims of a car crash holding the bag, she said.
“I don’t think we know the answer,” she told WyoFile after the vote. “That’s unacceptable. When the question is presented to the bill’s sponsors, [they need to] go find that answer and have a clear understanding of its impact for the people and drivers of Wyoming. We passed that law without that clear understanding, that’s where the disappointment lies.”
It also remained unclear what the bill would mean for Wyoming’s status in interstate driver’s license compacts, given that those agreements are predicated on the idea that states recognize the licenses one another issue.
The bill’s proponents dismissed that concern — and a similar one that Wyoming could run afoul of the U.S. Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause, which requires states to recognize the laws and court judgments of other states. It’s the states issuing the licenses that broke the law, not Wyoming, they argued.
“I would argue the other states are actively in violation of the compact,” Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, said. “They’re in violation of the law.”
But in each of those states the legislatures authorized the driver’s licenses, and in many cases have issued them for a decade or more, according to a database maintained by the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Utah, for example, lawmakers in 2005 created a class of license for unauthorized immigrants that lasts for a year.
Lawmakers also expressed concerns that they didn’t know how the bill would impact the state’s economy, given that it would make it illegal for workers from other states, both people who entered the country illegally and those who overstayed their legal entry, to drive Wyoming roads.
Opponents of the bill said lawmakers’ rush to punish undocumented immigrants threatens Wyoming’s economy and social fabric.
“Lawmakers shouldn’t be passing laws when they don’t know what they do,” Antonio Serrano, advocacy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming, told WyoFile. “This is going to hurt Wyoming in so many different ways.”
Workers in the state’s construction industry have told Serrano they’re thinking about leaving, rather than labor on in a state where they soon won’t be able to legally drive, he said. “These are people who have been parts of the community, this has just been their normal life and all of a sudden it’s just taken away from them,” Serrano said. “Going to work just got a lot harder, taking your kids to appointments just got a lot harder.”
In recent weeks, WyoFile has spoken with two immigrant families with working adults who are in the country without authorization — either by crossing the border illegally or by overstaying work visas.
In both cases, the adults have for years carried driving licenses issued to them by other states. Under the new law, they will be guilty of a misdemeanor that carries a $750 fine or up to six months in prison — the same penalty as that issued to someone driving on a suspended license.
“They’re essentially erecting a systematic wall around Wyoming with the passing of this bill,” Rachel Martinez, the president of the Hispanic Organization for Progress and Education in Cheyenne, told WyoFile. “A party that wants less government sure is putting a lot of effort into adding more of it into the lives of Wyomingites, and those who are just trying to come into Wyoming without any ill will,” she said. “People are just literally trying to drive their cars.”
After an election cycle where an immigration crackdown was a major campaign issue for Republican candidates, pressure on the Legislature to pass a bill on that front has been mounting.
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which has a voting majority in the House, had made passing the driver’s license bill a priority, as had the Wyoming Republican Party. The legislation passed with 45 yes votes in the House and 22 yes votes in the Senate, broad majorities that, if they held, would be sufficient to override a governor’s veto.
“There’s immense pressure right now on a lot of bills,” Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, told WyoFile. A “no” vote was likely to become fodder in dishonest literature during a future primary campaign, he said. The longtime senator, who did vote against the bill, suggested he would soon face a campaign mailer that read: “Senator Driskill is in bed with the illegals.”
But Driskill said he was staunchly opposed to illegal immigration, but just didn’t see the bill as countering it, particularly when weighed against the possible risks. People in the country illegally, he said, already face deportation, particularly if they are arrested on suspicion of committing a crime whether that’s while driving or otherwise.
Driskill worried that agricultural laborers with temporary work visas could face detainment during traffic stops or be deterred from working in the state.
Nethercott was one of several senators who voted for the bill despite speaking against it during debate.
“We’re sending a message to our sister states that have given driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. And I don’t support [those licenses],” Nethercott told WyoFile. “But I do support having thoughtful lawmaking that achieves its purpose. I’m not sure the bill does that. But the people of Wyoming will feel better.”
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