by Wendy Fry and Khari Johnson
CalMatters
Privacy advocates are urging California to reconsider plans to share millions of driver records with a database after the Trump administration sought commercial driver’s license information for immigration enforcement.
California lawmakers debated whether the Department of Motor Vehicles could safely share driver’s license information with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), a nonprofit clearinghouse. State officials argued that participating was necessary to comply with federal REAL ID requirements and protect acceptance of California IDs at airports and federal buildings.
Lawmakers approved funding for the DMV to begin sharing non-commercial driver information with AAMVA. But at the time of the vote, they did not know federal agencies were already seeking bulk driver information from the organization.
Federal agencies first requested and later subpoenaed information covering about 17 million commercial driver’s license holders. An Aug. 11 subpoena from the Department of Homeland Security said the information was sought for “civil immigration enforcement.” It requested names, dates of birth, states of record, license numbers and Social Security numbers for drivers in AAMVA’s commercial database going back five years.
The dispute has intensified concerns because California plans to begin uploading information on all non-commercial license holders, including more than 1 million immigrants who obtained licenses under a 2013 California law allowing undocumented residents to be licensed.
AAMVA initially considered complying with an earlier June 25 federal request. State officials objected, arguing that bulk disclosure could violate agreements between AAMVA and state DMVs as well as privacy laws. California officials say an agreement with AAMVA prohibits sharing the state’s commercial driver information without written permission.
The California DMV did not learn about the federal request until July 23, according to a sworn declaration by Kristin Triepke, chief of the DMV’s Licensing Policy branch. That was 10 days after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation enabling the data-sharing plan.
Triepke warned that federal access to driver information could discourage noncitizens from obtaining licenses, leading more people to drive unlicensed and creating public-safety concerns.
AAMVA later proposed allowing states to decide whether their commercial driver data could be provided in bulk. The federal government responded by threatening grants and contracts and DHS subsequently issued its subpoena.
Twenty-two state attorneys general, including California’s, sued to block the demand. On Aug. 21, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga temporarily prevented AAMVA from complying, calling the demand “unlawful.” A hearing on whether to issue a preliminary injunction was scheduled for Sept. 10.
The Newsom administration maintains that the commercial-license system involved in the subpoena is separate from the system California intends to use for non-commercial records. Spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo said the systems are governed by different rules and legal authorities, and that California has not supplied the requested bulk data.
Privacy advocates remain deeply unconvinced. They argue that the subpoena demonstrates how information held by a national clearinghouse can become a target for federal demands. They are especially concerned that records for non-commercial drivers without conventional Social Security numbers could be used for immigration enforcement.
Saira Hussain of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said AAMVA’s response to the federal request was insufficient because the organization waited weeks to notify states and considered complying. She called on California to delay transferring non-commercial driver information while the case proceeds.
The DMV says it takes its responsibility to protect Californians’ personal information seriously and opposes releasing bulk commercial driver information.
DHS, meanwhile, argues that access to commercial-license records is connected to highway safety and enforcement of federal immigration law.
The legal fight now raises a broader question for California: whether privacy protections promised by the state can remain effective once driver information is placed in a national system subject to federal demands. Critics say the subpoena confirms the risks they warned lawmakers about before the Legislature approved the data-sharing plan.
Editor’s note: This article has been edited for length to fit available print space.
