In Florida, the undocumented have never been eligible for driver’s licenses, but many drive anyway. People like a mother that we follow in 2017 say that they take risks every day to be able to go to work or take their children to school.
Since then, several states have allowed undocumented people to get licenses.
“There are 19 states in the United States where an undocumented person can obtain a driver’s license in that state. Before July 1, that person could come to Florida and use that license here to drive in this state,” explains the lawyer. Aron J. Gibson.
But that changed on July 1, when a new state law went into effect that prohibits the use of such licenses issued to undocumented people. Licenses like one from Connecticut that has the letters DO on it and says it doesn’t work as a federal ID. Or like one from Delaware that says it gives you driving privileges, but it’s not an ID.
Attorney Gibson explains that now, if a police officer pulls you over while driving in this state and you show one of those licenses, you could receive a criminal ticket for driving without a valid license.
“When you get a criminal ticket for driving without a license, the police have the option of arresting you and taking you to jail….Or the police can just give you the ticket and tell you to show up in court. That’s still an arrest.” , but they don’t take you to jail,” says Gibson.
Although there is no way to know how many undocumented drivers there are in Florida, according to data we obtained from the State, in the month of July, of the 1,989,319 drivers ticketed in Florida, 378,346 did not have a valid license.
Attorney Gibson says he believes this new law will increase the number of people facing criminal charges for driving without a license in the state of Florida.
“Because now we are going to have people in the state of Florida driving with driver’s licenses from other states. And if they don’t know that the law has changed and they have an invalid license in their possession, then the police are going to say sorry, but the license is no longer valid here,” says Gibson.
That’s why Gibson says it’s important to understand which licenses are no longer valid in Florida.
For example, Connecticut licenses issued to residents and citizens showing federal documents are valid, but those issued with a foreign passport and electric bill are not. The list of disallowed licenses is changing frequently so you should check the page of the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles
