Gavin Newsom’s California to share driver’s license data that could expose illegal immigrants

More than 1 million undocumented immigrants in California are facing a high-stakes reckoning.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles will soon be sharing driver’s license details and identification data with other states through a national database, exposing those without a Social Security number.

The Democratic legislators authorized $55 million in California’s new state budget that the DMV would use to feed the data to the State-to-State Verification Service and a nonprofit-run SPEX database.

The system, run by American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), is designed to capture the last five digits of the SSN and those who do not have one would have a default “99999” appear on their records.

California’s Assembly Bill 60 allows illegal immigrants to receive a driver’s license, but the AB 60 licenses look a bit different than the usual ones. The front and back of the licenses specifically mention that the document is subject to federal restrictions. 

State officials say that California’s participation in the data sharing system is crucial for the federal government’s Real ID Act to work. If the Golden State doesn’t comply with it, then the Department of Homeland Security can refuse to accept the state-issued IDs at airports. 

The plan was earlier rejected by lawmakers because it lacked the necessary safeguards for illegal immigrants. Now, the legislation comes with added protections for those at risk.

“The established safeguards limit the information shared to the minimum necessary,” said HD Palmer, spokesperson for Newsom’s Department of Finance, reports CalMatters. 

Under the revised legislation, the attorney general could sue the nonprofit and any states if they violate the data sharing agreements. There would also be a public sharing of all the data requests that the agency fulfills.

The DMV would need to submit a final monitoring plan by July 2027. Beginning 2030, the state auditor will inspect whether the data sharing guidelines are being followed or not. 

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