The California DMV’s AB 60 Warning Just Gave Trump a Roadmap

The California DMV’s AB 60 Warning Just Gave Trump a Roadmap

Why did a citizenship-verification question from the Secretary of State’s Office make the DMV worry about drivers who cannot prove lawful presence?

By Christine Bish

Official Motor Voter minutes connect citizenship verification, AB 60 drivers, the DMV and the Secretary of State’s voter-registration system.

For years, voters who question whether noncitizens are slipping onto California’s voter rolls have been told the system prevents it.

Then the California Secretary of State’s Office published minutes from an official Motor Voter Task Force meeting.

The April 22, 2025 meeting included representatives from the Secretary of State’s Office and the Department of Motor Vehicles—the two agencies responsible for moving DMV information into California’s voter-registration system.

A citizenship-verification question from the Secretary of State’s Office produced a startling response from the DMV:

“The DMV shared that it would be risky for the security of AB60 drivers of California to implement citizenship confirmations on Real ID’s.” 

That statement should set off alarms.

What Is AB 60?

AB 60 is the California driver’s-license program for people who cannot provide proof of legal presence in the United States.

The DMV’s own website says exactly that.

AB 60 licenses are not proof of citizenship, and an AB 60 license holder cannot legally vote unless that person later becomes a United States citizen.

So why did the DMV raise the “security” of AB 60 drivers when the Secretary of State’s Office asked about citizenship verification?

The minutes do not explain.

They do, however, confirm that the DMV was monitoring the federal SAVE Act, that the task force wanted the legislation discussed again, and that California REAL ID cards do not indicate citizenship.

Then came the AB 60 warning.

This Was a Motor Voter Meeting

This was not a general discussion about driver safety or immigration policy.

During the first quarter of 2025 alone, the DMV delivered more than 2.26 million records to the Secretary of State’s Office. The minutes also identified delayed records and several system irregularities.

The Secretary of State administers VoteCal, the official statewide database containing voter-registration information from all 58 counties. California regulations specifically charge the Secretary of State with maintaining the system used to determine voter eligibility.

The DMV supplies the records.

The Secretary of State maintains the voter rolls.

Those were the offices involved in this exchange.

Then the Secretary of State Refused the Federal Request

The Secretary of State’s AB 60 discussion becomes more significant when viewed beside the ongoing dispute with the Trump administration.

The United States Department of Justice requested California’s statewide voter-registration list. Secretary of State Shirley Weber refused to produce the requested records, and the Justice Department sued her and the State of California on September 25, 2025.

A federal district court later dismissed the lawsuit, but the Justice Department appealed. DOJ filed its opening appellate brief in March 2026 and its reply brief in April 2026.

That means the fight over access to California’s voter rolls is not merely political rhetoric. It is an active federal legal dispute.

The Secretary of State’s position is that sensitive voter information must be protected.

Fine. Protect it.

But privacy does not prevent a secure federal review. Social Security numbers, driver’s-license numbers and private addresses can be protected while citizenship and eligibility safeguards are independently tested.

The Trump Administration Should Use the Minutes

The Trump administration should stop treating this only as a broad fight over voter-roll access.

Use the April 22 minutes as an investigative roadmap.

The Justice Department should seek the meeting recording, original notes, draft minutes and communications between the Secretary of State’s Office and the DMV concerning the SAVE Act, citizenship indicators and AB 60 drivers.

Federal investigators should also demand the DMV’s technical rules for excluding AB 60 applicants from Motor Voter, the database fields used to identify them, audit logs showing whether AB 60 records were ever transmitted to VoteCal, and exception reports involving customers whose license or immigration status later changed.

Most importantly, the representatives involved should be required to answer one question under oath:

“What specific security risk did citizenship confirmation create for AB 60 drivers?”<

Follow the State’s Own Paper Trail

The minutes do not prove that every AB 60 driver was registered to vote.

They do not establish how many noncitizens may be registered or whether any of them cast ballots.

But the minutes provide a legitimate investigative lead from the agencies running the system.

The citizenship question came from the Secretary of State’s Office.

The warning about AB 60 drivers came from the DMV.

The Secretary of State maintains the voter rolls.

And the Secretary of State refused to provide those rolls to the federal government.

The Trump administration now knows where to look.

Follow the meeting minutes.

Follow the DMV data.

Follow the AB 60 exclusion rules.

Then ask the question the Secretary of State and DMV have not answered:

“Why would citizenship verification threaten drivers who cannot prove lawful presence—and what would a complete review of California’s voter rolls reveal?”

Official Sources

1. California Secretary of State — Motor Voter Task Force Meeting Minutes, April 22, 2025
   https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/motor-voter/minutes-04-22-25.pdf
2. California DMV — AB 60 Driver’s Licenses
   https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/driver-licenses-identification-cards/assembly-bill-ab-60-driver-licenses/
3. California Secretary of State — Statewide Voter Registration System
   https://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/regulations/current-regulations/elections/statewide-voter-registration-system
4. California Secretary of State — VoteCal Project
   https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/votecal-project
5. S. Department of Justice — Lawsuit Over California’s Voter Rolls
   https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-six-states-failure-provide-voter-registration-rolls
6. S. Department of Justice — Complaint in United States v. Shirley Weber and State of California
   https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/complaint-united-states-v-shirley-weber-and-state-california
7. S. Department of Justice — Brief for Appellant in United States v. Weber
   https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/brief-appellant-united-states-v-weber
8. S. Department of Justice — Reply Brief in United States v. Weber
   https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/reply-brief-united-states-v-weber

 

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