About the Bill

HB1789 | Rep. Rebecca Burkes and Sen. Joshua Bryant | House Committee on City, County, and Local Affairs
This bill would restrict local government from funding any municipal identification card programs either directly through a municipal program or through providing funds to an agency or person to run such a program if the program does not require the applicant for the municipal identification to provide proof of lawful presence in the United States.

AACF Testimony on March 19, 2025, House Committee on City, County, and Local Affairs

Maricella Garcia, Race Equity Director, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is Maricella Garcia, and I am with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. AACF has worked for more than 47 years to advocate for research-driven policies that have improved the lives of children and families in Arkansas.  

HB1789 misunderstands “sanctuary policies” and would make cities that currently have municipal IDs less safe for Arkansans. As a lawyer who worked in immigration for 10 years, I am here to ensure that we bring clarity to these issues. 

There are no sanctuary cities in Arkansas. That is as true now as it was in 2019 when this legislature enacted a ban on sanctuary policies. A sanctuary policy, in the context of immigration, refers to a jurisdiction’s decision to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The municipal ID programs we have in Arkansas in no way limits a jurisdiction’s ability to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, so they already comply with current Arkansas sanctuary city law.  

Municipal IDs existed in the state at the time the 2019 law banning sanctuary cities was passed, and it was clear from testimony from the bill’s sponsor and others that there were no sanctuary cities in Arkansas. Therefore, it cannot be that municipal IDs are a component of sanctuary policies. The enaction of a municipal ID program does not in any way impede cooperation with immigration authorities. 

The municipal ID program is a public safety measure. The only thing it does is allow people to be identified and access local services. It does not grant lawful presence. It does not require that they somehow not be arrested if they commit a crime. It simply allows an individual to prove their identity. The Little Rock Municipal ID Program was enacted initially after a series of serious aggravated robberies – tied to immigrants carrying large amounts of cash with them rather than depositing paychecks in a bank — that the police were unable to solve. Conversations between the police, city officials, banking institutions, and other community leaders led to a municipal ID as the solution to the problem of lack of access to banking in the community and a proper ID that could be used within the city to identify the individual. I would add that municipal IDs are also designed to provide an identification mechanism and access to critical services for unhoused people or individuals fleeing domestic violence situations who may have to leave quickly without important documents. 

This bill would prohibit a local government from issuing a municipal ID to an individual who does not provide proof of lawful presence in the United States. Please know that training someone to determine immigration status can be extremely complicated, particularly for those without a legal background in immigration law. When a bill ran in the 2023 legislative session that would have established a special driver’s license for undocumented immigrants, DFA concluded that the agency would need highly-skilled examiners to issue such licenses and that it would be difficult and expensive to hire staff at that level. That is something that certainly couldn’t be absorbed at the city level. 

The current function of a municipal ID program is working where such programs exist to keep residents safe and provide access to services like banking and health services.  

Again, a municipal ID only does two things: 1) It proves who the person is; and, 2) It proves that they live in the municipality. It doesn’t interfere with immigration at all. Requiring cities to get information about a person’s immigration status as part of issuing a municipal ID would effectively close down municipal ID programs. It would make it hard for law enforcement to engage with the communities they need to serve and ensure residents have access to important services for their health and well-being. Therefore, I ask you to vote no on HB1789.