LOS ANGELES – The US federal authorities will not be able to use the databases of the California driver's licenses to obtain information on undocumented immigrants, according to a new law signed by the governor Gavin Newsom.
The measure "will help prevent the misuse of state police databases against immigrants whose only crime was to enter the United States illegally," said the San Diego Democratic Assemblyman, Lorena Gonzalez, promoter of the measure after the signing of the law by Newsom.
"It will ensure that California residents are not a target for obtaining their driver's license"he added.
The new law only authorizes the use of information from undocumented immigrants who obtained their license in cases related to criminal investigations conducted by federal agencies.
The initiative arose after in some arrests of undocumented immigrants federal immigration authorities had access to copies of their driver's license obtained by undocumented under the AB60 law where your personal data were listed, according to media reports.
The law also authorizes the California Attorney General to conduct audits to ensure that users of the California Law Enforcement Agency Telecommunications System (CLETS) comply with the measure.
"Our state has not been successful despite our diversity, our state is successful because of it", Newsom said by signing it.
The AB60 law, which came into force in 2015, offers undocumented immigrants the opportunity to obtain a driver's license in California, which at the time was argued as important for improving the safety of roads in the Golden State.
In the first year of its application, about 605,000 undocumented immigrant driver's licenses were granted according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and in April 2018 the figure exceeded one million.
