Minnesota lawmakers have approved a bill ending a requirement that applicants seeking a driver’s license show proof of legal residence in the United States. Democratic Governor Tim Walz has promised to sign the Driver’s Licenses for All bill, which will benefit more than 80,000 undocumented immigrants, most of whom are over the legal driving age of 16. The legislation was co-sponsored by state Senator Zaynab Mohamed, who moved to Minneapolis with her family at age 9 from Somalia. 

Sen. Zaynab Mohamed: “What we’re doing is we’re doing a rule change to allow undocumented people to not have to provide Social Security numbers, because they don’t have that. This debate is about the safety of our roads, and we can debate that tonight if you’d like, because there are 40,000 accidents on the highways. And the people of Minnesota, they want to make sure that the people who are driving on our roads have the driver education that they need.”

Passage of the Driver’s Licenses for All bill caps two decades of campaigning by immigrant rights groups. Also on Wednesday, Minnesota senators approved a bill to restore voting rights to people convicted of felonies as soon as they’re released from prison, rather than once they’ve completed their parole. Current restrictions on voting have disproportionately affected Black and Native American Minnesotans.