Gov. Scott Vetoes Bill to Give Drivers Licenses to Illegal Aliens

By  //  June 5, 2013

BILL TARGETED TO IMMIGRANTS DESCRIBED IN EXECUTIVE ORDER

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA  – Governor Rick Scott vetoed House Bill  235, which would have provided temporary drivers licenses to illegal immigrants categorized under the “Deferred Action Status”  by an executive order from President Obama.

Gov. Rick Scott
Gov. Rick Scott

The bill which was authored by  Rep. Randolph Bracy, D-Orlando cleared the House with a vote of 115-2 and the Senate, with a vote of 36-0. HB 235 would have let the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles accept as  a person’s approved application for “deferred action status” which was defined in an Executive Order by President Obama.  Governor Scott explained his veto in a cover letter to Florida Secretary of State Kenneth Detzner. Excerpts from Scott’s letter include:

“Florida is home to immigrants of many nationalities, who add to the cultural fabric of our great state, and whose productivity and hard work have contributed to our economic turnaround.  Still, our nation struggles with immigration issues every day, as Americans seek to reconcile the fact that at one point our families were immigrants who came, as many do today, to work and live the American dream with the fact that the federal government has failed at enforcing the nation’s laws on this topic….

 Deferred action status is simply a policy of the Obama Administration, absent Congressional direction, designed to dictate removal action decisions using DHS agency discretion.  It was never passed by Congress, nor is it a promulgated rule… 

Given that deferred action status does not confer substantive rights or lawful status upon an individual, Florida is best served by relying on current state law. Already, Florida law allows those with a federal employment authorization card, without regard to their deferred action status, to obtain a temporary Florida driver license…

Although the Legislature may have been well intentioned in seeking to expedite the process to obtain a temporary driver license, it should not have been done by relying on a federal government policy adopted without legal basis.

For the reasons stated above, I withhold my approval of House Bill 235, and do hereby veto the same.”

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