Unearthed video exposes El-Sayed's opinion on driver's licenses for illegal immigrants
By Hannah Whitmore, Maine News Now
A 2018 campaign video is making the rounds again as Michigan Democrats prepare to choose their nominee for U.S. Senate, and it features Abdul El-Sayed, now a Senate candidate, making the case that undocumented immigrants should be eligible for state driver's licenses.
The clip, recorded during El-Sayed's 2018 run for governor, captures the then-candidate arguing that denying licenses based on documentation status amounts to discrimination. "We've got to make sure that in this state we are not discriminating against documentation status. Right now, if you're undocumented, you don't get access to a driver's license. You're stuck," El-Sayed said in the interview. He went on to argue that undocumented residents are cut off from a wide range of state services as a result. "You don't get access to a lot of the basic things that the state offers everybody else, and I think that's ridiculous and so we've got to stop discriminating that way."
The remarks are drawing fresh attention as El-Sayed competes for the Democratic nomination in one of the year's most closely watched Senate primaries. He faces Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., with the winner set to advance to the November general election.
In a recent interview, El-Sayed described his political philosophy in broad terms, saying he believes government has a role to play in leveling the playing field. "You're seeing that kind of resonance here in Michigan for sure. And I'm not surprised that you're seeing that in New York, too. Government ought to be available to set an equal playing field for everybody and to offer those basic things that everybody needs and deserves," he said.
El-Sayed has distanced himself from labels such as "progressive" or "far-left," but his policy platform includes Medicare for All, the elimination of corporate tax carve-outs, and tuition-free public higher education. He has also pointed to a broader trend within the Democratic Party toward expanding government-provided services.
The resurfaced driver's license comments have prompted debate over what such a policy would mean in practice. Hans von Spakovsky, an elections expert with Advancing American Freedom, argued that state driver's licenses function as a de facto national identification document in the absence of a federal ID system, and that extending them to undocumented residents carries practical consequences.
"Because America does not have a national ID card like the Europeans and other nations, state driver's licenses are a stand-in for that ID card," von Spakovsky said. "Issuing driver's licenses to aliens will help them in all the instances where a license is needed, from opening bank accounts to all types of other transactions."
Von Spakovsky added that because I-9 employment verification forms typically require only a driver's license, licensing undocumented residents makes it easier for them to live and work in the country. "Providing them driver's licenses is a huge step in allowing them to easily live and work in the United States," he said.
El-Sayed's campaign did not immediately respond to questions about the scope of services he believes should be available to non-residents, or about whether issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants amounts to an implicit endorsement of their presence in the country.
Michigan's Democratic primary is set for Tuesday, and the contest between El-Sayed and Stevens has been framed as a proxy fight over the direction of the party. Whoever emerges with the nomination will face the winner of the Republican primary in the general election on November 3.
