Supreme Court overturns driving law targeting noncitizens

Acadiana bureau

LAFAYETTE — The state Supreme Court has ruled that a Louisiana law that makes it a felony for noncitizens to drive without proof they are legally in the United States cannot be enforced.

The opinion, released Wednesday, came in a group of cases out of Lafayette Parish, where the law was challenged.

At issue is Louisiana’s “operating a vehicle without lawful presence” statute, which carries a penalty of up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $1,000.

In the court ruling, the justices cited a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on a similar law in Arizona.

The federal justices had ruled Arizona was improperly trying to enforce immigration laws, the realm of the federal government.

The challenge to the Louisiana law had attracted the support of several civil rights and immigrant rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigration Law Center and Southern Poverty Law Center, and group of foreign governments that included Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

They argued, among other things, that the Louisiana law allows officers to pull people over for “driving while Latino.”


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