One year after passing a law that allows Ukrainian immigrants On humanitarian parole to get a driver’s license, Indiana lawmakers are trying to repeal it after a federal judge recently ruled that the law should extend to all parolees.

A bill that passed the House on Monday with bipartisan support would repeal a law that allowed people on a narrow parole definition to legally get a driver’s license in the U.S., but only if When they are from Ukraine. Under the same federal mandate, a group of Haitian immigrants living in Indiana sued the state over the law, saying it was discriminatory and unconstitutional.

In mid-January, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction striking down the Ukrainian provision of the law, allowing all immigrants on humanitarian parole to obtain temporary licenses in the state.

Indiana Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz will reverse the 2023 decision and run for re-election

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and the National Immigration Law Center are representing Haitian immigrants in the ongoing lawsuit, which seeks to permanently overturn the Ukrainian provision.

said Gavin Rose, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Indiana Associated Press It’s unclear how the bill, House Bill 1162, would affect the lawsuit if it becomes law.

“It would clearly be extremely worrisome if the Legislature removed the ability of Ukrainians to obtain credentials simply because Indiana requires those credentials to be extended to nationals. Like Haitiwho, like the Ukrainians, have been allowed to enter and work in the U.S. because of serious humanitarian crises in their home countries,

Republicans have said that extending parole eligibility to all people puts state control over federal immigration classifications.

Rep. Jim Pressell, the bill’s Republican author, told lawmakers Thursday that the lawsuit made the situation “messy” and took issue with the federal definition of parole, which includes people from multiple countries. He said he wants a discussion in the Senate about how to preserve the intent of last year’s law.

Rep. Matt Lehman, the Republican floor leader in the House, said allowing all parolees to obtain licenses opens the door to “popular status” for “unscrupulous” people.

“I don’t believe our immigration policy at the national level has that coveted status,” he told lawmakers Thursday. “I think that status is being given to people that we’re going to have trouble with.”

The bill passed the Republican-controlled state House 89-8 without debate and now advances to the state Senate.