Federal court sends suit over immigrant driver's licenses to state court

5 HOURS AGO • BY LORI PILGER
A federal judge Friday kicked back to state court a lawsuit challenging Nebraska’s refusal to issue driver's licenses to immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children but were approved to stay in the U.S. under a federal program.


The Nebraska Attorney General's Office, which moved the case to the federal court from state court a month before trial, argued against the move on Friday.


The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, which filed the lawsuit in Lancaster County District Court in 2013 on behalf of four people in Omaha, argued for it.


At issue is a policy Gov. Dave Heineman announced in 2012 that Nebraska would deny driver's licenses to illegal immigrants who become eligible to work in the United States.


It was in response to a June 2012 announcement by the secretary of homeland security that certain people who came to the U.S. as children could apply for deferred immigration action for two years, and could be renewed, if they met several guidelines.


On Friday, Chief U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp issued an order rejecting the state's contention that the federal court was best able to construe the term "lawful status" in the context of the federal Department of Homeland Security's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program to determine if the state was treating similar people equally.


"This court cannot conclude that plaintiffs' claim necessarily raises a federal issue at all, let alone one that is disputed and substantial," Smith Camp wrote.


Attorneys for the state argued the new case raised the same issues as another case, which was dismissed in federal court earlier this year.


But, Smith said that the court in Saldana v. Lahm found that the plaintiff didn't show that the director of the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles had treated people approved for deferred action for other reasons more favorably than those approved because they were brought into the country illegally as children.


She said she could not conclude that the equal protection claim raised a substantial federal issue that needed to be handled before the plaintiff's claim could be resolved.


The ACLU of Nebraska described Smith Camp's ruling as a win.


"This is an important procedural victory that will ensure the case can move forward without additional delay," Executive Director Danielle Conrad said in a statement. "The state's policy to discriminate against lawfully present young people is unacceptable."


Nebraska soon will be the only state not issuing licenses. Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a federal appeals court order that Arizona must start issuing the licenses to immigrants allowed to be in the country under the DACA program.


Arizona has been ordered to begin issuing licenses to DACA recipients starting Monday.


Conrad wants to see the same thing happen here soon.


"It is time to move forward, to honor the intent of the Nebraska Legislature, and ensure that all who are lawfully present in our state have the ability to travel to work and to school," she said.

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