Court extends order requiring Tennessee to issue driver’s licenses to Dreamers, other immigrants

Tennessee officials must continue to issue driver’s licenses to immigrants who possess valid federal work permits while a legal challenge to new state policy rejecting the documents as valid continues, a court order issued Tuesday said.

The decision extends a temporary restraining order that has blocked the abrupt change in state policy since last week, while a legal challenge brought by the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition and six immigrants continues in court. 

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

Employment cards issued by the federal government have long been accepted as acceptable proof of immigration status in order to obtain a temporary Tennessee driver’s license. (Immigrants without permanent status are only eligible for a temporary license.)  The cards establish that an immigrant is authorized to live and work in the United States. 

For many immigrants including so-called Dreamers, who are protected from deportation because they were brought to the country as children, the employment cards have served as the only proof of a valid immigration status accepted by Tennessee driver’s license officials for more than a decade. 

Hundreds of Tennessee residents have been denied temporary licenses and license renewals since the department first began implementing the new rules, according to immigrant advocates. Thousands more in Tennessee are at risk of losing the ability to legally drive to jobs, school, doctors and grocery stores if the new policy continues. 

“Regardless of where they were born, Tennesseans rely on the ability to drive in order to work, care for their families, and access the basic needs of life – groceries, medical appointments, their children’s education,” a statement by Spring Miller, senior legal strategy director at the Tennessee Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights, said. 

A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, which administers driver’s licenses, cited Tennessee law that requires applicants for the temporary licenses to provide documentation that establishes a specific period of lawful status in the United States. The employment authorization card, the spokesperson said, does not.

A hearing date in the case has been set on Dec. 7 in Davidson County Chancery Court.