Florida’s new license plate scheme is probably illegal

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has earned quite a bit of praise for his anti-woke crusade in the Sunshine State, even if it hasn’t translated to major gains in his presidential bid. But his latest push against the left may run into some trouble in the courts when it is inevitably challenged. Florida Senate Bill 1718 will make it potentially illegal (in a minor fashion) to drive a vehicle with certain out-of-state license plates in Florida. The law is being described as a move to crack down on illegal immigrants, but it could potentially sweep up any number of legal citizens. It could also produce a negative impact on tourism. Vehicles with license plates from five states would be subject to “extra scrutiny” from police and may lead to the issuance of tickets. (Champlain Valley News)

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced the passing of a law that could render driver’s licenses and other forms of identification from several states invalid, including Vermont.

Florida Senate Bill 1718 is considered to be a policy to crack down on illegal immigration, attempting to prevent the use of publicly funded services by those who may not pay taxes.

As of July 1, in addition to Vermont, four other states’ IDs will face extra scrutiny from police, as they may provide forms of identification to applicants who do not give proof of citizenship or legal status.

The affected states are Vermont, Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. What all of these states have in common is that they allow illegal aliens to apply for driver’s licenses and receive license plates. The law would “allow” (this is vaguely defined) police officers to pull over cars with licenses from those states and potentially issue traffic tickets to the drivers for traveling with what will now be recognized as an invalid driver’s license. So we’re not talking about jail time here, but it’s still something that would go on the person’s driving record.

The reasons that this law will be problematic should be obvious even to the casual observer. What DeSantis is doing is essentially making it illegal to be from any of those five states. Just because some blue states allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses (which is a terrible idea, but they do it anyway), that doesn’t mean that all of the drivers from those states are in the country illegally. In fact, the vast majority of them are not. And any of them might have a reason to want to visit Florida for legal purposes.

The police need to have probable cause to pull someone over. Being from Vermont is not probable cause because simply being a Vermont resident is not a crime, as much as many red state denizens might think it should be. Also, even if this were legal, the list of states being included is very selective. Currently, 19 states plus the District of Columbia allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses. Why are the drivers from those other 15 points of origin not subject to this “additional scrutiny?”

Further, the law at least makes it sound like the police would have the “discretion” to issue tickets only to those drivers found to be in the country illegally. But how would they tell? You can see an example of a New York State license issued to an “undocumented” person here. There’s nothing on it that indicates the person’s immigration status. Will the cops be forced to run a full background check on everyone they pull over who has committed no other observable crime beyond having a license plate from “the wrong state?”

This law sounds completely unenforceable and could result in a cascade of financially crippling court challenges against police departments across the state. Also, as I mentioned at the top, this could generate a significant dampening effect on tourism, one of Florida’s chief economic drivers. Who wants to plan a vacation to a place where you will be effectively discriminated against based on nothing more than your home state of residence? DeSantis should rethink this one and ask the legislature to walk it back.