Senate Transportation debates DMV Real ID language after USDOT memo on immigration enforcement

The Vermont Senate Transportation Committee met May 28 to discuss proposed language in a miscellaneous DMV bill intended to clarify how the Department of Motor Vehicles should handle Real ID applications when the federal USCIS SAVE database returns a flag, and whether township language should make compliance explicitly subject to federal law.

The discussion followed a memorandum from the U.S. Department of Transportation that, according to legislative counsel David Leonard, says DOT recipients must “comply fully with all applicable federal laws and regulations” and may face audits or withholding of funding if they are viewed as impeding federal immigration enforcement. “As secretary of transportation ... I’m responsible for ensuring recipients of DOT financial assistance are aware of and comply with all applicable legal obligations,” Leonard quoted from the memo during the committee meeting.

The nut of the dispute is operational: when the DMV runs citizenship or immigration documentation through the USCIS SAVE system and that check returns a negative or flagged result, DMV counsel told committee members it places the agency “on notice” that the individual may be present in the United States in violation of…