Lawsuit seeks to block TN from denying driver’s licenses to immigrants legally allowed to work

An immigrant advocacy organization filed a legal challenge on Friday to new Tennessee rules that deny driver’s licenses to immigrants who are legally authorized to work in the United States, arguing the state failed to follow its own rules by abruptly shifting long-standing license requirements.

The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition is seeking an immediate court order to temporarily block the state from denying licenses to immigrants authorized to live and work in Tennessee, among them thousands of state residents who have been able to legally hold and renew state licenses for nearly two decades.

The organization is joined in filing suit by six individuals, identified only by their initials, who were recently denied licenses and license renewals, or face being denied a license or license renewal in the future.

The legal challenge, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court, also seeks a finding that new rules, implemented in recent weeks without public input, are invalid. 

Tennessee Gov. Lee questions state rules denying licenses to immigrants legally able to work in U.S.

“Tennessee’s denial of driver’s licenses to immigrants is unlawful and infringes on Tennesseans’ right to have a say in matters affecting their communities,” said Peter McGraw, legal deputy director of the National Immigration Law Center, among the groups representing the plaintiffs. 

Tennessee “issued its new driver’s license policies without first seeking community input or approval, and a state agency must consult the public before implementing extreme policies that affect all of us. Tennesseans should be able to drive safely and freely, and we look forward to putting driver’s licenses back in the hands of people who depend on them.”  

For many years, the Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security routinely accepted an “employment authorization document” issued by the federal government to immigrants legally allowed to work and live in the United States as sufficient proof of immigration status for the purposes of obtaining a license.

In recent weeks, the department began rejecting individuals seeking new or renewed licenses who presented the federal work permit. For many immigrants who are not permanent residents — such as asylum seekers and so-called Dreamers who were brought to the U.S. as children and are now protected from deportation — the document is among the only valid proof they have of their immigration status. 

On Wednesday, Gov. Bill Lee said he had just learned of the rule change and was in the process of determining “ what impact it actually does have and are there changes we need to make.” 

A spokesperson for the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security on Friday cited longstanding practice in declining to comment on pending litigation.

Tennessee blocks driver’s licenses for Dreamers, other immigrants with U.S. work permits

Immigrant advocates said the denial of licenses could impact potentially thousands of Tennessee immigrants with legal authorization to be in the country. Without a valid license, they said, immigrants face an impossible choice: stop driving and risk losing their jobs or risk driving and be subject to arrest, detention and subsequent deportation if caught.

Among those recently denied a license is an East Tennessee registered nurse who asked to be identified only by his initials, L.R., who is not a party to the lawsuit.

Speaking at a virtual news conference on Friday, L.R. said he is legally allowed to work and live in the United States as a recipient of DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA recipients were brought to the United States without legal authorization as children and have since been granted the right to legally live and work in the country.

He went to multiple county driver’s centers earlier this month to renew the temporary license that has previously been made available to DACA recipients who are able to produce the credit-card-sized federal work permit cards. He was turned away at each one, he said.

After 20 years in Tennessee, he is considering leaving despite an acute statewide nursing shortage. There is no public transportation in the rural community where he lives, and finding a ride to his job at a Level 1 trauma center at 4 a.m. to begin his shift is impractical, he said.  

“I hate the idea of having to uproot my entire life due to being gatekept (by) a piece of plastic just to survive,” he said. “I’m holding strong to the belief that change can be made, but if I have no other choice then I will relocate and put my knowledge and skills to use in a new place.”

The legal challenge argues the Department of Safety & Homeland Security is violating its own regulations and state law in imposing new rules that limit acceptable forms of immigration status. 

It also challenges the decision as exceeding the department’s authority. 

“Under its new rules, the Department is determining — in place of the federal government — who is authorized to be present in the United States, for what purpose, and for how long,” in violation of state law. 

The lawsuit alleges that in addition to rejecting work permits, the department is no longer verifying license applicants’ status through the federal S.A.V.E. system, an online system administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that states use to verify immigration and citizenship status for those seeking “benefits or licenses.”

No court date has yet been set in the legal challenge, which was brought by attorneys with the Tennessee Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights, Nashville law firm Bass, Berry & Simms and the National Immigration Law Center. 

The legal challenge