Laycie Tobosa spent months convincing driver’s license officials in Hilo that she was not required to remove her traditional Muslim headscarf — or hijab — for a photo for her renewed driver’s license, which she eventually received.

On Tuesday the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii notified Hawaii County DMV to change what the ACLU calls its “unconstitutional policies, which violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

The ACLU sent similar “cautionary letters” to DMV officials in Honolulu, Maui, and Kauai counties “seeking confirmation that they do not impose similar unconstitutional policies,” the ACLU said.

“Asking a woman to remove her headscarf is like asking her to remove her clothes and underwear,” Tobosa told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “It’s like asking me to get undressed in public. It’s very embarrassing. It’s very offensive. Wearing a headscarf is to protect you as a woman, to preserve your most private spaces for those close to you.”

Tobosa, 33, of Hilo, owns Island Healing Massage Co. in downtown Hilo. She got her first driver’s licence at age 19 on Maui, converted to Islam in 2011 and went into the Hilo DMV to begin the process to renew her license on Feb. 1.

When Tobosa refused to remove her hijab for her photo, she was issued only a provisional driver’s license.

She said county officials could provide no written policy requiring women to remove headscarfs for religious purposes. Tobosa then tried to convince DMV officials that they were not following Homeland Security guidelines.

The federal guidelines, posted on the Homeland Security website, state:

“The REAL ID regulatory standards for the digital photograph recognize that some individuals may wear head coverings for religious or other reasons. However, such coverings should not obscure an applicant’s facial features or generate a shadow. For purposes of the photograph, the face should be visible from the hairline to the chin and forward of the ears, and be free of shadows. The REAL ID regulation does not require the exposure of the hair line or the ears.”

Tobosa finally got her license on May 1 and it’s valid for eight years.

Now she wants DMV officials across the islands to know that women are not required to remove their headscarfs just to get a driver’s license, which she needed to cash checks and get onto an airplane.

Tobosa and her husband and their two children, ages 5 and 2, were trying to board a flight in March for a family vacation to New York.

Tobosa only had her provisional driver’s license with no photo on it.

“I was stopped at TSA and delayed about three hours and I almost missed my flight,” Tobosa said. “They wanted a Social Security card and one other form of ID, like a birth certificate or passport. I didn’t have any of that but they accepted my bank card, which does have a picture on the back. They made me go through extra screening and I was searched physically. It was difficult to stand there for hours with two small children.”

In a statement today, Hawaii County officials said:

“Initially, the County followed the REAL ID requirements in place at the time regarding how an applicant’s photo should appear; the requirements at the time stated that “(t)he face from crown to the base of the chin, and from ear-to-ear, shall be clearly visible and free of shadows. Veils, scarves or headdresses must not obscure any facial features and not generate shadow.”

“The Federal Department of Homeland Security, which set forth the REAL ID laws, updated its own interpretation of the requirements regarding head coverings. The updated interpretation of the law was not immediately conveyed to the state or the county.

“As soon as the state and county became aware of the new interpretation of the law, Ms. Tobosa was immediately issued a full REAL ID compliant driver’s license on April 18, 2018,” said Naomi O’Dell, administrator for Hawaii County’s Vehicle, Registration and Licensing division. “Since that time,we have been consistently following that interpretation.”

Contrary to the statement by Hawaii County officials, Tobosa said she had already collected about a dozen driver’s license photos issued in Hilo of non- Muslims whose ears and even eyes were covered by their hair and bangs.

One Muslim woman in Hilo who applied for a driver’s license did comply with a request to remove her hijab, Tobosa said.

“She is not from Hilo, she’s a foreigner and she doesn’t know her rights,” Tobosa said. “She did what she was being told to do because she felt she had no other options.”

Imam Matiullah Joyia of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Hawaii, USA, read about Tobosa’s battle with the Hilo DMV on social media and said it represents just one of many examples of ignorance and discrimination that Muslims deal with in Hawaii.

“It’s the sad reality that we as Muslims have to face,” Joyia said.

His wife, Khadija Maryam, needs to renew her driver’s licence on Oahu in a few months and Joyia worries she will face the same kind of difficulties that Tobosa endured in Hilo.

“There’s no way I can imagine my wife exposing herself just for a driver’s license,” Joyia said. “At the same we are grateful for the Constitution that protects us against such policies.”

ACLU letter to the Hawaii DMV by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd