Over the last year, Texas Republicans have enacted sweeping regulatory and legal changes that have upended all facets of life for noncitizens. The state has limited who can get an occupational license; register or buy a car; obtain commercial driver’s licenses; and get in-state tuition at colleges and universities.
The changes are wreaking havoc on the 1.7 million people without documentation in Texas, as well as tens of thousands of refugees and people with temporary protected status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Already, more than 6,400 refugees and DACA recipients have lost their commercial driver’s licenses. Many more noncitizens are expected to lose the ability to work in licensed industries from construction and medicine to air conditioning and cosmetology.
The complicated patchwork of new rules has led to widespread fear and uncertainty, immigration attorneys and advocates say.
