Republican bill would prevent young immigrants, raised in America, from getting drivers licenses
Back in February we blogged about how Ohio public safety officials were denying driver’s licenses to young immigrants who had recently been issued work permits under a new program announced by President Obama last year. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program allows young people who came to the United States without authorization to apply for a work permit and social security number if they: 1) came here before the age of 16; 2) have been in the U.S. for the last six years; 3) are either in school, have graduated from high school, or have served in the armed forces; and 4) have not been convicted of any serious crimes and are not a threat to national security.
For several months Ohio BMV officials would say only that they were studying the issue internally, all the while denying licenses to individuals who the federal government had explicitly said were allowed to live and work in the United States. Finally, after Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine told the Columbus Dispatch that he thought Ohio law as written did include DACA recipients within the driver’s license eligibility requirements, BMV officials relented and began allowing DACA recipients to apply for driver’s licenses on March 29. [Read more…]