“California is set to share data on immigrant drivers with other states or federal authorities at the national level.”

Nlets, a nonprofit law enforcement info-sharing network, can share state residents’ information with immigration agencies, federal lawmakers said Wednesday. Those states include California... 41 states share drivers’ license photos through Nlets. Citing metrics from Nlets, the lawmakers wrote that in the year preceding Oct. 1, 2025, Nlets processed more than 290 million queries for Department of Motor Vehicles data. Of those queries, some 290,000 came from ICE.

In a move immigration and privacy advocates call a “betrayal,” California is preparing to share detailed information about its driver's license holders with an outside organization. State authorities confirmed that they plan to share the data to a multistate verification system in compliance with the Real ID Act of 2005. The shared information would go to a national association of motor vehicle departments, but advocates fear it will make its way to the feds, including the last five digits of a person's Social Security number or the placeholder “99999” for those without one, readily identifying people who may be in the country without authorization.

California is preparing to share with an outside organization detailed information about driver's license holders, including immigrants who do not have legal authorization to live in the U.S. More than 1 million people have obtained driver's licenses in California under Assembly Bill 60, a law passed in 2013, which prohibits the state from using information obtained in the licensure process to consider an individual's citizenship. Advocates who spoke with CalMatters said sharing the driver's license information with the association sells out immigrant license holders, calling it a 'direct betrayal' because the multistate verification system can reveal whether a person is an undocumented immigrant, especially through the use of '99999' as a placeholder for Social Security numbers.

The DMV will not proactively share information with ICE, but ICE can access DMV databases. This means that if ICE is already looking for you, applying for an AB 60 license could place you at greater risk of being found and put in deportation proceedings. The information that the DMV could share with ICE includes a person's name, address, and photograph.

California is preparing to share with an outside organization detailed information about driver's license holders, including immigrants who do not have legal authorization to live in the United States. State authorities confirmed they plan to share the data to comply with the Real ID Act of 2005, which set requirements for accepting state identification in federal facilities like airports. Advocates fear that federal immigration officials will try to gain bulk access to the data and use the fact that a person doesn't have a Social Security number as a signal that they're deportable.

State authorities confirmed they plan to share the data to comply with the Real ID Act of 2005, which set requirements for accepting state identification in federal facilities like airports. The state plans to provide the information to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a nonprofit organization whose governing board is made up of DMV officials from across the country. The information given to the association will go into the group’s State-to-State Verification system... assurances from the association that safeguards will be added to prevent access by the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

As of April 2026, California has begun sharing detailed driver information with a national verification system to comply with the Real ID Act. This move—costing the state roughly $55 million—allows the DMV to verify that residents do not hold duplicate licenses in other states. Critics and advocacy groups have dubbed this a “betrayal,” as it involves sharing data points on over 1 million unauthorized immigrants who were previously promised confidentiality under AB 60.

Through the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS), using a law enforcement agency account granted by CADOJ... Limit sharing of information about California drivers through a state-to-state verification system pursuant to the Real ID Act or otherwise. Disclose plans to participate in a state-to-state verification system or other information-sharing system, and what information about California drivers will be shared.

At least two other states, California and Hawaii, passed laws explicitly prohibiting motor vehicle departments from sharing information solely related to undocumented immigrants’ driver's license applications with federal immigration authorities.

California is preparing to share driver's license data with a national organization, a move that critics say breaks a decade-long promise to protect unauthorized immigrants. The state plans to send information to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators to comply with the federal REAL ID Act. Advocates are outraged noting that the shared files will use a “99999” placeholder for those without Social Security numbers making them easy to identify.

In certain instances, there could be a risk that the information given by undocumented immigrants in pursuit of a driver's license may be shared with the federal government through national systems like Nlets, despite state sanctuary policies.

California Assembly Bill 60 (AB 60), enacted in 2013, allows undocumented immigrants to apply for and receive California driver's licenses. A key provision of the law was the assurance that information gathered during the licensing process would not be used for immigration enforcement purposes, aiming to improve public safety and integrate immigrant communities.