Thread: N.C. - Bill gives standard license to illegal immigrants

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Updated at 06:10 PM today

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A group of Democratic lawmakers in the General Assembly has introduced a bill that would give qualified illegal immigrants the same driver's licenses that are issued to everyone else.

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's administration plans to issue driver licenses with a bright pink stripe and the words "NO LAWFUL STATUS" to young adults participating in the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Obama administration initiative grants valid federal work permits to qualified applicants brought to the United States without legal authorization when they were children.

The Division of Motor Vehicles is set to begin issuing the pink licenses March 25.

Supporters of the pink stripe say it's a clear way of identifying people, but immigration advocates and groups like the ACLU have come out in opposition. Even some people of faith - including a few in the Jewish community - say the license proposal is hurtful and reminds them of one particularly shameful time in history.

"Not a great analogy but you know, the Germans did it with the Jews and homosexuals in terms of the pink triangles and the Stars of David, to label folks and think of them as other, when we all, I think, have more in common than differences," offered the Rev. John Saxon with the Unitarian Universalist Church.

But supporters of the pink stripe say there must be a way to tell who is in the country legally with full rights.

Governor McCrory has said he supports the marked licenses because they would prevent undocumented immigrants from voting or trying to access certain government services.

The requirements for the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program say applicants must have come to the U.S. before they turned 16, be younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, be in school or have graduated from high school or a GED program, or have served in the military.

Nationwide, the program affects an estimated 800,000 immigrants who are now protected from deportation. They also were allowed to apply for a two-year renewable work permit.

Bill gives standard license to illegal immigrants | abc11.com

By Gary D. Robertson
The Associated Press
© March 4, 2013

RALEIGH, N.C.

North Carolina's plan to grant specially marked driver's licenses to qualifying illegal immigrants later this month is discriminatory and reinforces attitudes that Latino residents are second-class residents, critics said Monday.

Lawmakers, clergy and Hispanic young adults benefiting from a new Obama administration program to grant federal work permits to immigrants condemned the state Department of Transportation's decision last month to issue licenses with bright pink stripes and the words "NO LAWFUL STATUS" on them.

"I do feel discriminated against," said Jose Rico, 23, of Raleigh, who has lived in North Carolina for 10 years and has been issued a work permit under the program. "Now they have given us the driver's licenses, but with a scarlet letter — with a pink stripe."

Several Democrats have filed a bill that would direct the licenses to look like regular permits, without the stripes or the words. Like the ones to be issued by the Division of Motor Vehicles starting March 25, the permits envisioned in the Democratic counterproposal would expire when the person's work permit first expires in two years.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, announced by President Barack Obama last year, is for qualified applicants brought to the U.S. as children without legal authorization. These young people now have a legal presence in the country, said state Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham, one of the bill's primary sponsors.

"That's what our bill says. They should be treated like everyone else," Luebke said.

Following a lengthy review, Transportation Secretary Tony Tata announced the DMV would begin issuing the licenses for program participants. The decision followed a legal review released in January by the state Attorney General's, which found state law requires program participants to be granted licenses. Tata said last month the process would allow these "applicants to obtain driver licenses, while protecting the rights of all United States citizens."

Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican who appointed Tata, said last week he supported the issuance of the licenses, which he called a "pragmatic compromise." He declined to comment specifically about their proposed design but said they will ensure driver's licenses can't be used to receive other government services or register to vote. Luebke said McCrory could ask Tata to re-design the licenses.

Speakers at the Legislative Building said the differently-styled licenses serve no reasonable purpose and are immoral and cruel by stigmatizing young Hispanic adults already being scrutinized by law enforcement.

The pink-striped license "conjures up horrific images of the not-so-distant history of an evil time when badges, and colors and stripes foretold the course of one's life and death," said state Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland, another sponsor of the Democratic bill.

Chances for that bill's passage seem unlikely given that Republicans are in charge of the legislature.

Some of McCrory's fellow Republicans at the legislature have filed a bill that would delay DMV from issuing licenses for a few months. One bill sponsor said the program is unconstitutional.

Rabbi John Friedman of the Judea Reform Congregation in Durham said he can't understand why officials would want to single out these drivers except that "they wished somehow to take back the dreams of young people in our communities and in our state."

Distinct illegal immigrant licenses irk N.C. Democrats | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

NC PEN Dot wake the hell up no DR Lic