Starting New Year’s Day, Tennessee will issue IDs and driver licenses specifically for documented immigrants who are not U.S. citizens
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Among the new laws coming to Tennessee on January 1 is one that mandates lawful permanent residents receive a different form of ID or driver’s license than those who are U.S. citizens.
The new Tennessee legislation says that lawful permanent residents who renew or reinstate those forms of ID on or after New Year’s Day will need to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. If they fail to do so, they will receive the new designated temporary forms of identification.
Those who receive their citizenship may provide proof of such “at any time” to receive a license under present law, a summary of the bill says.
Currently, temporary IDs that are provided for those who are not citizens, but “whose presence in the United States has been authorized by the federal government of a specific purpose and for a specified period of authorized stay,” a summary of the legislation states. Under new rules, those temporary IDs will not be accepted as valid identification “where eligibility for a right or benefit is exclusive to the United States.”
This includes voting, the bill says, adding that temporary IDs will be required to have a visually distinctive marker that separates it from IDs given to U.S. citizens.
While voting was specifically listed as a reason for the ID distinction, non-citizens are not allowed to vote in federal, state, and most local elections. This includes permanent legal residents.
“There is no evidence that unauthorized immigrants, green-card holders, or immigrants on temporary visas are voting in significant numbers, despite some claims that ‘millions’ of noncitizens are voting in U.S. elections,” the Migration Policy Institute states. “In fact, audits by election officials and numerous studies reflect that voter fraud by noncitizens is extremely rare.”
The institute says that noncitizens who attempt to register to vote or who illegally vote face up to five years in prison and that doing so can trigger consequences that include deportation.
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