Congressional Democrats call on every state in the country to block ICE access to driver data

Dozens of congressional Democrats on Wednesday urged states across the country through a series of letters to "block" access by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to driver data, explaining that such a move has already taken place in several states across the country, such as New York and Illinois. In the letters, the lawmakers noted that all 50 states and Washington D.C. "have made their residents’ data available to approximately 18,000 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial law enforcement agencies across the United States and Canada" for more than two decades. They also added that "These law enforcement agencies have direct access to your residents’ data and can search and retrieve that data without the knowledge or assistance of your state employees."

Similarly, the Democratic congressmen detailed in their letters: "We write to alert you to the fact that your state is providing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies with frictionless, self-service access to the personal data of all of your residents. We urge you to block ICE access, as Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Washington have already done, and as Oregon is currently doing."

The letters were addressed to 19 Democratic governors: Katie Hobbs of Arizona, Jared Polis of Colorado, Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Matt Meyer of Delaware, Josh Green of Hawaii, Laura Kelly of Kansas, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Janet Mills of Maine, Wes Moore of Maryland, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Josh Stein of North Carolina, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Dan McKee of Rhode Island, Gavin Newsom of California, Tony Evers of Wisconsin, Albert Bryan Jr. of the Virgin Islands, and Lou Leon Guerrero of Guam. Among the signatories are Oregon Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, New York Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat and California Democratic Reps. Sara Jacobs and Zoe Lofgren.