California to share DMV data on undocumented drivers to meet Real ID rules

California plans to share driver's license records — including data that could identify undocumented immigrants — with a national motor vehicle nonprofit to comply with the federal Real ID Act, putting more than 1 million immigrants at increased risk of deportation, according to CalMatters.

The plan represents a potential reversal of a decade-old implicit commitment California made when it first began issuing driver's licenses to undocumented residents around 2016. Advocates say the state's compliance move could be used to flag and target immigrants living in the country without legal status.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles and the Governor's office briefed representatives from four immigration advocacy groups on the plan, which calls for transmitting license data to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), a nonprofit that develops model programs in motor vehicle administration and serves as an international information clearinghouse, ABC7 Los Angeles reported.

The data-sharing arrangement centers on a specific field in license records: whether a holder possesses a Social Security number. Because undocumented immigrants who obtained licenses under California's program generally lack Social Security numbers, that single data point effectively signals their immigration status to anyone with access to the shared records.

"The shared information will show whether a person has a Social Security number, meaning it could be used to identify people in the country without authorization," advocacy group representatives said, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

California began issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants roughly 10 years ago. Advocacy groups contend that the state made a commitment at the time to protect personal information collected through that program and that the current plan breaks that promise.

The state faces a hard compliance deadline tied to the Real ID Act of 2005, a federal law that sets minimum identity verification standards for state-issued IDs. If California declines to participate in the data-sharing arrangement, the Department of Homeland Security could stop accepting California licenses as valid identification at airports.

Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration has not publicly confirmed or denied the data-sharing plan. CalMatters, a California-based nonprofit news organization, first reported the proposal.

Advocacy groups have not publicly announced whether they plan to pursue legal action to block the data transfer. The standoff underscores a deepening tension between California's long-standing immigrant protections and mounting federal pressure to comply with national identification standards.