The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles committed to policy changes and antidiscrimination training to settle legal claims that its employees aided immigration authorities’ crackdown on undocumented activists.
Migrant Justice, an advocacy group for undocumented farmworkers that sued the DMV and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in November 2018, announced the settlement Wednesday at the Vermont Statehouse.
“This agreement will create a set of protections that will be strong enough to guarantee the safety and security for all,” Migrant Justice spokesperson Enrique Balcazar said through an interpreter.
Balcazar was among the 40-plus people who the group says were arrested by federal immigration authorities during what Migrant Justice has alleged was an ICE campaign to hinder its activism and deport its leaders.
DMV employees willingly — and sometimes eagerly — handed over information about Vermont residents who applied for state driver’s privilege cards, a program created in 2014 to allow undocumented residents to drive legally. Migrant Justice alleged that the process targeted nonwhite applicants.
Migrant Justice had lobbied for creation of the driver’s privilege cards in 2014, making its use as an immigration enforcement tool against the organization’s members a cruel twist.
“This information was key and essential in the deportation of a mass number of people from our state. We will never know the full impact of this betrayal,” Balcazar said.
The DMV on Wednesday agreed to a create a “net of protections” to stop information-sharing with ICE going forward, said ACLU staff attorney Lia Ernst, whose organization sued on behalf of Migrant Justice. Reforms include policy changes around the collection and retention of applicants’ personal documents and agency-wide training on topics related to nondiscrimination.
“We have been listening to the concerns of Migrant Justice and have been working together to find a path forward,” DMV Commissioner Wanda Minoli said in a statement. “We believe these efforts have been important to help ensure that regardless of immigration status, individuals are not afraid to gain access to driver’s privilege cards. DMV will continue to listen to concerns to ensure fair and equitable customer service for all DMV patrons.”
The agency also pledged not to provide information unrelated to immigration status for the purposes of immigration enforcement and agreed to outside monitoring for compliance with the settlement terms, Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan said in a press release. His office negotiated the agreement on behalf of the DMV, the release stated.
Migrant Justice’s claims against the DMV were just one piece of the federal litigation. Its civil claims against ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will proceed.
Reporter Colin Flanders contributed to this story.
Correction, January 15, 2020: A previous version of this story mischaracterized a detail of the settlement as described in Donovan’s press release.
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Following the law is for Suckers!
This seems a bit like putting the cart before the horse. These undocumented workers cannot legally live in the country but it is important they be able to drive legally? Maybe this time and effort would have been better spent trying to gain citizenship for these folks.
We are all Vermonters regardless of immigration status and we should all be able to seek a drivers privilege card without fear that the federal government will unjustifiably obtain access to our personal information,
I don’t know about this either. I remember trying to prove Vermont citizenship when I applied to go to college at UVM and when I went to get my driver’s license changed over from another state (two separate endeavors). As a U.S. citizen by birth who moved here from another state, it was a pain. I am not in the deport immigrants camp. I’d like to see these folks get citizenship so they don’t have to work in substandard conditions whether or not they can legally drive. Squabbling over a driver’s license seems it misses the mark.
Person “A” walks into DMV to renew a driver’s license. A lifetime citizen of VT and USA, having received first dl 50 years ago… Provides current picture license and 2 other forms of government issued ID or others such as utility bill. He wouldn’t be able to get the renewal if he had criminal activity on his records.
Person “B” walks into same DMV to get a new “driver privilege card”. Is not a “legal” citizen of VT and USA… Whatever docs are provided, I don’t believe they would be government issued and could be fakes. I don’t believe there is a a mechanism to know if there’s criminal history with the applicant.
Like Mark Lade, I’m not suggesting that we deport all people here illegally. What I am trying to understand is why the State seemingly makes it easier to get a license to drive if you’re here illegally, than if you’ve been a lifetime citizen. Then there’s not being able to know who the non-criminal illegal immigrants (oxymoron?) vs. a full view of the citizens.
If the above is accurate, it makes zero legal sense. Add to this that some DMV peeps share some info with the Feds. Now the DMV is settling with Migrant Justice…
Again perhaps I’m not ‘woke’. If my description above is not accurate, please advise, but it makes no sense to me.
Wait till one of these license holders, not a citizen rear ends your car resulting in $4000 in damage. Good luck collecting insurance if the individual has any. Don’t expect Vermont law to stand behind you.
I expect the first politician that has this happen will start a process to correct this.