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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2025 - 2026
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 13, 2025 03:45 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Donna Scheuren |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Prohibiting the Issuance of a Driver’s License to Illegal Aliens |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation that amends the Pennsylvania Constitution to prohibit the issuance of driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. Recently, immigration policy has been a major focus at both the state and federal level. The failed immigration policies of the previous federal administration enabled thousands of criminals, including rapists, pedophiles, and human traffickers, to enter our Commonwealth with impunity. Over the course of a mere two month-span last year, a previously deported illegal immigrant was accused in a fatal hit-and-run in Philadelphia that resulted in the death of a young musician,[1] two illegal immigrants were arrested in Missouri following a series of fatal carjackings,[2] an illegal immigrant truck driver was sentenced for an accident that resulted in the death of another driver in Colorado,[3] and an illegal immigrant was charged with driving while intoxicated following an accident that left a police officer dead in St. Louis.[4] According to the National Highway Traffic Safety’s 2021 Traffic Safety Facts Report, unlicensed drivers accounted for almost 11,000 fatal crashes in 2021, although it is unclear how many of the drivers involved in these deadly accidents were illegal immigrants.[5] Over a dozen states, including New York and New Jersey, have issued driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants in recent years. By granting driving privileges to illegal aliens, these policies not only undermine federal immigration laws, but serve to incentivize illegal migration and strain state resources by requiring additional administrative work to verify identities. Moreover, these state laws create extreme policy inconsistencies that hinder the enforcement of immigration laws and coordination between federal and state officials. On February 12, 2025, United States Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Department of Justice was suing New York for issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and hindering the enforcement of federal immigration laws by preventing immigration officials from accessing the vehicle records of illegal immigrants.[6] In light of the dangerous and misguided movement to grant illegal immigrants driver’s licenses, I believe it is necessary to ensure that such policies can never be adopted in this Commonwealth. We cannot afford to burden our constituents by allowing those who already committed a federal crime by entering our country with the opportunity to freely drive on the public roadways of Pennsylvania. There is a dignified process for legal migration into the United States, and we should not give clemency to those illegal aliens who have openly flouted our laws and have remained in our Commonwealth without legal residency status. It is not enough to have this provision in our current law, as it could be changed in the future, we need to pose the question to our constituents, to let them choose if they want their communities to be safe, secure, and prosperous. I hope you will join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation to help protect our constituents from illegal aliens. [1] https://www.foxnews.com/us/illegal-immigrant-accused-fatal-pennsylvania-hit-and-run-claimed-life-young-musician.
[2] https://www.foxnews.com/us/illegal-immigrant-brothers-arrested-missouri-connection-deadly-carjackings.
[3] https://nypost.com/2024/08/29/us-news/fury-after-illegal-migrant-truck-driver-who-killed-colorado-man-faces-just-1-year-in-prison/.
[4] https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/illegal-honduran-immigrant-charged-with-dwi-in-death-of-st-louis-police-officer-ramon-arnaldo-chavez-rodriguez-david-lee-missouri-st-louis-metropolitan-police-department-andrew-bailey.
[5] https://usclaims.com/educational-resources/non-licensed-drivers-responsible-for-20-percent-of-all-auto-accidents/.
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Memo Updated: February 13, 2025 03:46 PM