Associated Press (Alabama)
By Jay Reeves
March 15, 2013
The
state of Alabama said it will begin allowing hundreds of immigrants to
take driver’s license tests today under a new Obama administration rule,
a move that avoids another potential fight over immigration policy.
While
the state has battled the U.S. Justice Department and private groups
for months over Alabama’s strict crackdown on illegal immigrants, the
state Department of Public Safety said it will honor certifications
granted under an Obama program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
The
program grants valid federal work permits to qualified applicants who
were brought into the United States as children without legal
authorization and don’t have criminal records, among other
qualifications.
Sgt.
Steven Jarrett, a Public Safety spokesman, said certain offices will
begin conducting tests and issuing licenses for program participants
today. The state determined the program isn’t at odds with Alabama law,
he said.
Jarrett said 631 people have been approved for certification in Alabama, and as many as 1,500 could be eventually.
Guadalupe
Rosalinao, 18, of Decatur, said she’s excited at the prospect of
getting her driver’s license. She said her parents wouldn’t even let her
practice driving until now for fear that she would get in trouble if
stopped by police.
“I’m going to start driving, she said. “Once I’ve gotten really good at it, I’ll go get a driver’s license.”
Rosalinao
said her parents brought her to the United States from Mexico when she
was a little more than 2 years old. She has been in the country ever
since and graduated from high school with honors.
She applied for certification under the Obama administration program and received approval in February.
Rosalinao
said the chance to get a Social Security number is even more important
than a driver’s license. Her lack of documentation hurt her ability to
apply for college and pay for it.
She said she didn’t learn of her legal predicament until she turned 16 and tried to get a license.
“I
thought I was about to (get a license), and then my parents explained
our special circumstances,” Rosalinao recalled. “They said I couldn’t go
to college, get a scholarship, any of those things. It made me sad and
angry at the same time.”
Many
state driver license offices already have long lines, but Jarrett said
the new applicants shouldn’t affect operations. “We expect the impact to
be limited because of the number of people involved,” he said.
Driver’s
licenses issued to immigrants with federal certifications will carry
the letters “FN” for “foreign national,” just like licenses issued to
anyone else who is not a U.S. citizen, Jarrett said.
Groups
that joined the administration in opposing the state’s immigration law
said they were glad the state decided to provide licenses to qualified
applicants under the federal program.
“The
granting of licenses to these aspiring Americans is a positive step
forward,” said Sam Brooke, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law
Center in Montgomery. “Having drivers be licensed, registered and
insured makes everyone safer, and is in everyone’s interest.”
Jarrett
said the state conducted tests at four driver’s license offices to make
sure the Public Safety database would work with the new program.
Immigrants
began getting deferred status under the federal program weeks ago, and
some states began granting driver’s licenses to participants almost
immediately. Other states studied the rules until the federal government
provided additional information on how the program would work.
Arizona
— with a tough immigration law that served as a model for Alabama’s —
refused to grant driver’s licenses and is being sued. Alabama could have
taken a similar course but decided instead to provide licenses to
people participating in the program.
Jarrett said the state would allow people to take driver’s license tests as long as their federal designation remains.
No comments:
Post a Comment