Lawmakers were forced to change a controversial bill that would mandate state licenses be printed with the words "Alien" or "Non U.S. Citizen" on them.
Republican Representative John Ragan realized the bill was going to end up costing the state more than 100 thousand dollars a year. So he was forced to change it. This controversial piece of legislation first came up last year.
It would've mandated that anyone who is not a U.S. citizen have the words "Alien" or "Non U.S. Citizen" printed on their drivers licenses, but that has changed.
Instead if passed into law it would do this. There are currently 12 states that allow residents who are not U.S. citizens to get drivers licenses.
If someone moved to Tennessee from one of those states. They would be forced to prevent proof of U.S. citizenship.
NewsChannel 5 reached out to the Tennessee Immigrants Refugee Rights Coalition. They blasted this bill last year calling it unnecessary and discriminatory. Yet, there were still reviewing what these changes might mean.
