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A Georgia state senator is pushing back against critics who say his driver's license legislation would label immigrants without legal status with a "scarlet letter."
Republican Sen. Joshua McKoon of Columbus is sponsoring Senate Bill 6, which would create special Georgia driver’s licenses and ID cards for immigrants who have been granted deportation deferrals and work permits through the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.
The state would use different colors and fonts to distinguish them from standard Georgia driver’s licenses and ID cards. And they would carry the label: “No lawful status.”
Opponents say SB6 would amount to a "scarlet letter" right out of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 19th century novel. One critic said he sees parallels with the Japanese internment camps that were used in the U.S. during World War II.
“The people we are talking about who are covered by SB 6 have no lawful status in the United States,” McKoon said in an email. “All we are asking is for people to submit to an administrative process that is no more onerous than that which a Georgia citizen goes through when renewing their” driver’s license under the federal REAL ID law.
“SB 6 has been dramatically altered to provide a legal mechanism for illegal aliens to drive on Georgia roads. The fact that one activist compared this bill to Japanese internment camps in WWII shows how bereft of any policy argument the opposition finds itself in this debate.”
Originally, SB6 banned Georgia driver's licenses for DACA recipients. But that version never got a committee hearing last year. A similar measure died in the 2014 session. The Senate Public Safety Committee passed the revised version on a 3-2 vote Wednesday.
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