THE REPUBLIC
by Daniel González and Rob O'Dell
The Republic | azcentral.com
Gov.
Jan Brewer's executive order denying driver's licenses and ID cards to
undocumented immigrants who obtain work permits through President Barack
Obama's deferred-action program is a significant change in state
policy, records obtained by The Arizona Republic show.
Over
the past eight years, Arizona issued licenses and ID cards nearly
40,000 times to non-citizens who had federal employment-authorization
documents. Since Brewer's Aug. 15 order, the state has issued more than
1,000 driver's licenses or ID cards to non-citizens with work permits
while denying licenses to those with work permits issued through Obama's
program.
The
data show that despite the state's longstanding practice of issuing
driver's licenses to non-citizens with work permits, Brewer has singled
out so-called dreamers, denying them driver's licenses even when they
have work permits.
The
federal work permits are identical except for a number that identifies
them as recipients of deferred action under Obama's program. Anyone with
that number can't get a permit under Brewer's order.
"It's
completely contradictory," said Crystal Williams, executive director of
the American Immigration Lawyers Association, an advocacy group in
Washington, D.C. "If you give a driver's license under one of these
circumstances, they are all pretty much the same circumstance, so it's
contradictory to say we will give to one but not the other."
Brewer
is one of only a few U.S. governors to deny driver's licenses to
undocumented immigrants who receive work permits through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The
president's program allows undocumented immigrants under 31 who were
brought to the U.S. as children to remain in the country without the
threat of deportation for two years. Those approved for the program
receive permits allowing them to work legally in the U.S.
Brewer
has argued that undocumented immigrants who receive work permits
through the president's program don't qualify for Arizona driver's
licenses because they don't have legal status to be in the U.S., as
required by state law.
But
that argument does not square with data released to The Republic by the
Arizona Department of Transportation's Motor Vehicle Division through a
public records request. The data show that driver's licenses, or in
some cases state IDs, were issued more than 39,600 times since 2006 to
non-citizens who presented federally issued employment authorization
documents as primary ID to prove they are authorized to be in the U.S.
under federal law.
Work permits
Employment
authorization documents are among the 22 forms of primary
identification U.S. citizens and non-citizens can use to obtain Arizona
driver's licenses.
The
federal documents, also known as work permits, are issued to
non-citizens for a variety of reasons, according to Sharon Rummery, a
spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
For
instance, non-citizens, both legal and illegal, applying for permanent residency through marriage to a U.S. citizen can receive work permits
while they are waiting for their application to be finalized, she said.
The
government also commonly issues work permits to illegal immigrants who
are fighting their deportation in Immigration Court so they can support
themselves while their cases are pending, Rummery said.
The
federal government also issues work permits to illegal immigrants for
other reasons including to those granted temporary protected status due
to natural disasters in their home countries, she said.
Illegal
immigrants granted deferred action for other reasons outside of
President Obama's program, such as domestic violence victims, also
commonly receive work permits, she said.
Rummery could not say what percentage of work permits go to illegal immigrants.
But
several immigration lawyers said they believe the majority of
non-citizens who use work permits to get driver's licenses in Arizona
are illegal immigrants placed in deportation proceedings due to the
state's ongoing crackdown on illegal immigrants.
"Probably
a large number of (non-ctizens) with employment-authorization documents
have no legal status, probably the majority," said Regina Jefferies, a
Phoenix immigration lawyer who chairs the Arizona chapter of the
American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Gerald Burns, a Chandler immigration lawyer, agreed.
"All
these people who got detained and placed in immigration proceedings who
qualified for cancellation of removal were also able to get work
authorization. I've got hundreds of them," he said.
Distinctions
On
Tuesday, Matthew Benson, a spokesman for Brewer, said there is a
distinction between those who get work permits under Obama's program and
those who receive work permits for other reasons.
Under
state law, only those people who can prove that their presence in the
U.S. is "authorized under federal law" are eligible for driver's
licenses.
But,
in the governor's view, undocumented immigrants who receive work
permits through the president's deferred-action program are not
federally authorized to be in the U.S., Benson said. He cited statements
by Department of Homeland Security officials in the past saying that
Obama's program does not give undocumented immigrants any form of legal
status, only the ability to stay and work temporarily in the U.S.
Stacey
Stanton, director of the state's Motor Vehicle Division, agreed that
people who receive work permits through Obama's deferred-action program
don't qualify for Arizona driver's licenses because they don't have
lawful status in the U.S.
Williams, of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said Arizona officials are drawing a distinction where there is none.
"It's
almost a meaningless statement to say whether you are here legally or
illegally (if you have a work authorization). You are here under color
of law," Williams said. "People are quibbling over whether they have
legal status or don't have legal status.
"It's
actually pretty vague under the law in a lot of these circumstances
whether they do or don't. The proper inquiry is: Are they here under the
color of law? Once the government issues you a work authorization, the
government is saying, 'I know you are here, and I am saying you can work
while you are here, and I'm not deporting you so you are under the
color of law."
Other states
Besides
Arizona, Nebraska and Michigan have declined to issue driver's licenses
to recipients of deferred action under Obama's program.
In
California, lawmakers passed a law ensuring that deferred-action
recipients under Obama's program could get driver's licenses.
Texas,
North Carolina and Georgia also allow deferred-action recipients to get
driver's licenses, while other states are grappling with the issue,
Williams said.
Burns,
the Chandler lawyer, said the state will likely face a lawsuit as
growing numbers of undocumented immigrants issued work permits through
Obama's deferred-action program are denied licenses.
Burns
said undocumented immigrants granted work permits through deferred
action need licenses to drive to jobs or school. Not allowing them to
get driver's licenses encourages them to drive unlicensed and uninsured,
he said.
Cristian
Arcega, 24, a Phoenix resident brought to the U.S. illegally from
Mexico when he was 9, said he received his work permit Oct. 8, about six
weeks after applying for deferred action.
But
when he tried to get a license at an MVD office in Phoenix by showing
his work permit and Social Security card, he was turned down.
Without
a license, Arcega said, he has trouble getting to his job at a Home
Depot in Phoenix. He was able to get the job with his new work permit.
He relies on friends for rides or takes the bus.
"It's
really hard because sometimes it takes me an hour to get home, and I
get out really late," he said. "It also makes it really hard to do my
schedule."
Driver's licenses for non-citizens with work permits
The
chart shows the number of times driver's licenses or state IDs were
issued to non-citizens who presented employment authorization documents
to prove they were authorized to be in the U.S. under federal law.
Breakdown by Year:
Year Total
2012
2011
2010 5,532
2009 5,576
2008
2007
2006
2005
Total 39,655
Source: Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division
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