Police squad car lights. (Stock photo by Oliver Helbig/Getty Images)
Immigrants lacking permanent legal status would face harsher penalties for driving without a license under one of the bills the Republican-led Legislature is slated to pass Thursday.
Lawmakers sponsoring the proposals in this week’s special session have billed them as following the Trump administration’s focus on catching criminals.
A provision in the most robust (SB 2-C or HB 1-C) of the bills would make driving without a license a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable with a fine of up to $1,000 or up to a year in jail, for immigrants living in the state without legal permission. For a repeated offense, it would be a felony of the third degree, which could result in a fine of up to $5,000 or up to five years’ imprisonment.
Orlando Democratic Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith raised concerns during the bill’s only committee meeting in that chamber Wednesday about how it could harm people trying to go to work or drop their kids off at school, considering the deficiencies in Florida’s public transit system.
“Public transit is practically nonexistent,” Smith told reporters. “We don’t have a functioning bus system in Central Florida. It is extremely hard to get around without your own vehicle. That’s just the reality in Florida, so it makes it a lot harder and it cost-burdens these families if they are required to take public transit or hire ride-sharing services to do simple things.”
The proposal boosts penalties for all misdemeanors of the second and first degrees. Smith made a point of highlighting that the provision could target people who might not be able to avoid driving to show that it’s not only directed at criminals, he said.
Bus ridership in Florida is lower than in other states
When it comes to bus ridership, The Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority in Orlando averaged 42.56 miles ridden per capita in 2023, according to the National Transit Database. Miami-Dade County operated Florida’s busiest bus system, with an average of 92 miles. But those numbers fall far behind other transit systems in the country. New York MTA riders averaged 166 miles per capita. In San Francisco, it was 174 miles.
Over a third of people in Florida who are not citizens drive by themselves or carpool to work, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2023. A similar figure, 33.2%, indicated that they used public transportation.
While some immigrants without permanent legal status — including those with temporary protected status and people granted asylum — can get driver’s licenses in Florida, the state doesn’t generally allow noncitizens or immigrants who are not permanent residents to get licenses or IDs.
“There is an entire economy of people who are trying to make a living here in the land of freedom in Florida that are hard-working, law-abiding, and they can’t take their kids to school,” said Kara Gross, legislative director of the ACLU of Florida, during the Senate hearing on Wednesday. “They can’t take their kids to a doctor because they are not allowed to have a driver’s license.”
Governor involves highway patrol
In a press conference in the Capitol on Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis touted an agreement with the federal government that he said would deputize Florida Highway Patrol troopers, allowing them to interrogate people about their immigration status. He said the agreement was necessary to ensure road safety.
“One of the things I’ve just seen time and time again is when you have a fatal crash involving an illegal driver. A lot of times, they’ve had previous times where they’ve been pulled over for erratic driving or drunk driving, and it’s almost like catch and release,” the governor said.
Multiple studies, including from Florida International University researchers and the conservative Cato Institute, haven’t found evidence that immigrants lacking permanent status have higher rates of drunk driving or that their presence puts people at a higher risk of death from drunk driving crashes.
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