Thread: North Carolina Suspends Issuing Driver's Licenses to DREAMers

Posted: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 9:54 pm | Updated: 10:16 pm, Tue Jan 15, 2013.

Bertrand M. Gutierrez/Winston-Salem Journal

A new battle line may be forming in North Carolina between state and federal governments over illegal immigration – this time at the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles.

At issue is whether the DMV is required to issue a driver’s license to an immigrant who has received a federal two-year reprieve from deportation under a program, known as Deferred Action for Early Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, implemented in August by President Barack Obama.

Deferred action does not change a person’s residency status. It’s not like a green card or temporary visa. It just blocks the possibility of deportation for two years. But it also allows the recipient to get a Social Security card and work permit.

Until about a week ago, the work permit, known as an Employment Authorization Card, or EAD, had been one of the documents that the DMV accepted for proof of residency from non-U.S. citizens.

But the DMV stopped accepting the work permit from those who have gotten deferred action, a program the DMV refers to as C33, until the legal issue can be cleared up. Mike Robertson, the now-retired DMV commissioner, asked in a Sept. 10 letter to Attorney General Roy Cooper to issue an opinion on whether the federal DACA program conforms with North Carolina law in relation to proof of residency.

“Legal guidance from your office is necessary to clarify whether an EAD carrying a code of C33 constitutes a document demonstrating the bearer’s ‘legal presence’ in the United States as that phrase is used in N.C. General Statute 20-7(s),” Robertson wrote.

Cooper’s response will be watched closely by those who favor stricter immigration policies as well as other groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.

Raul Pinto, an ACLU-NC staff attorney, would not rule out legal action.

“We are looking at all possible options, and we want to hear from anyone affected by this policy,” Pinto said. “They are carving out an exception and it is discriminatory.”

Meanwhile, immigrant advocacy groups statewide have been asking those affected to contact the ACLU, according to Wooten Gough, who helped start the local immigrant advocacy group in Yadkin County known as El Cambio (The Change) in 2010.

“If it comes down to it, and they really want to block licenses, El Cambio will not sit down quietly and let that happen,” Gough said.

Since August, when the Obama administration started offering the two-year reprieve from deportation, more than 13,000 immigrants in North Carolina have submitted an application to U.S. Citizenship and Customs Enforcement for it, according to USCIS statistics up to Dec. 13. The state was ranked sixth nationwide behind California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois as having the most applications.

Nationwide, nearly 368,000 applications have been sent to USCIS; of those, nearly 356,000 have been approved.

To qualify for the DACA program, the applicant must have no serious criminal record. The program blocks the deportation of immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before they turned 16, are not older than 31, have graduated from high school, attended college or served in the military.

Meanwhile, licenses that had been issued to DACA recipients are getting revoked.

An internal review of DMV records showed that 13 licenses had been unintentionally issued to applicants in the DACA program, said Marge Howell, a DMV spokeswoman. “To maintain consistency of policy, the DMV mailed notification to these applicants on Jan. 11 letting them know their licenses were issued in error; therefore, their driving privileges have been cancelled,” she said.

Cooper’s answer is expected by the end of the month, according to officials with the Attorney General’s Office.

“Attorneys with our office are researching this issue and gathering relevant information, including from Homeland Security, and hope to have an opinion written within a week or so,” said Noelle Talley, the office’s spokeswoman.

DMV officials stop issuing licenses to some immigrants as they await AG opinion - Winston-Salem Journal: Local News

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