Texas already has strict guidelines in place to make sure that undocumented immigrants can’t access driver’s licenses (apparently it’s safer for people to drive unlicensed). Since Oct. 1, Texas made the guidelines even more strict by requiring foreign nationals to prove they are lawfully here before they can get an original, renewal or duplicate driver’s license or ID card. Additionally:

noncitizens with legal permission to live in the country will now get special, vertical-shaped driver’s licenses bearing temporary visitor designations. The licenses will be valid only until the person’s legal status expires. Immigrants whose legal status is scheduled to expire less than six months from the time they apply cannot get a license or ID card at all.

Critics also say that creating a different-looking license for noncitizens could lead to profiling and discrimination…
Maria Luisa Bautista, who heads the Austin-based nonprofit group Inmigrantes Latinos en Acción, said she fears they will make legal immigrants “marked people,” potentially vulnerable to discrimination.
The licenses could lead to more scrutiny by law enforcement officers conducting routine traffic stops or landlords reviewing rental applications, said Luis Figueroa, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Profiling and discrimination? That never happens.

Only five states — New Mexico, Washington, Utah, Maryland and Hawaii — do not require applicants to show evidence of lawful presence in the country.

Foreign nationals who can’t prove they are in the country legally are not reported to immigration authorities but simply denied a license.
An exception would be if the DPS discovered that an applicant had presented fraudulent immigration documents.

Why do I not trust Texas to not report people to Homeland Security?

Via / Hispanic Tips and The Statesman