Shukri Abdirahman, a Muslim-American refugee, called a bill giving illegal immigrants access to Minnesota driver’s licenses “outrageous.”
“I came to America legally,” Abdirahman said. She explained that she was “criminally and medically vetted” while living in a refugee camp in the slums of Kenya before being allowed to enter the United States.
Abdirahman was a Republican candidate for Congress challenging Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar in 2022.
“I’ve earned every right as a U.S. citizen,” said Abdirahman, a U.S. Army veteran.
Keep telling yourselves we'll have fair elections & vote them out.
Forget the brazen election fraud via ballot harvesting …
The left is acting uniformly to enable illegals to vote by rushing to bestow the trappings of citizenship on illegals in the form of driver's licenses.
— Shukri Abdirahman (@ShuForCongress) March 8, 2023
“Keep telling yourselves we’ll have fair elections [and] vote them out. Forget the brazen election fraud via ballot harvesting. The left is acting uniformly to enable illegals to vote by rushing to bestow the trappings of citizenship on illegals in the form of driver’s licenses,” Abdirahman said.
The bill, which was signed into law on Tuesday by Gov. Tim Walz, allows all immigrants access to driver’s licenses regardless of their immigration status. In 2003, Gov. Tim Pawlenty first made it illegal for nonresidents to obtain driver’s licenses.
“Ensuring drivers in our state are licensed and carry insurance makes the roads safer for all Minnesotans,” Walz said in a statement. “As a longtime supporter of this bill, I am proud to finally sign it into law, making our roads safer and moving us toward our goal of making Minnesota the best state to raise a family for everyone.”
Some have raised concerns about this law making it easier for illegal immigrants to vote in Minnesota elections, but Secretary of State Steve Simon said that the bill “will not change Minnesota election laws at all.”
The Drivers Licenses for All bill will not change Minnesota election laws at all. Many people who are ineligible to vote (like green card holders or sixteen year-olds) already have drivers licenses. For that reason, drivers licenses are not used as proof of citizenship.
— Steve Simon (@MNSteveSimon) January 31, 2023
Approximately 81,000 illegal immigrants reside in Minnesota.
Democrats are also pushing a bill to bring automatic voter registration to Minnesota, which means those who apply for a driver’s license or other state benefits can be eligible to register to vote at the same time.
However, the bill clarifies that automatic voter registration is limited to those with “documentation or verification of United States citizenship” or to cases where “records reflect that the applicant provided proof of citizenship during a previous agency transaction.”
Hayley Feland
Hayley Feland previously worked as a journalist with The Minnesota Sun, The Wisconsin Daily Star, and The College Fix. She is a Minnesota native with a passion for politics and journalism.
