'Dreamer' immigrants in Arizona get driver's licenses after legal fight
By Kevin Baxter
December 22, 2014 - Los Angeles Times
Sunrise was still hours away when Ramon Maldonado showed up at an Arizona
Department of Transportation office Monday hoping to get a driverfs license.
After waiting 2 1/2 years for permission to take the exam, Maldonado wasnft
about to wait a minute longer than necessary. He wasnft alone: When he arrived
at 5:30 a.m., more than two hours before the Phoenix office opened, half a dozen
people were already in line.
The driving test was more nerve-racking than difficult, Maldonado said —
especially with half a dozen news crews videotaping his attempts to parallel
park.
gBut I passed,h he said. gIt feels good to have a license and not worry about
how to get around.h
Gov. Jan Brewer had tried to keep immigrants who are covered by President
Obamafs deferred deportation program from obtaining state driverfs licenses and
ID cards. The state filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court last
week, but the high court refused to intervene.
U.S. District Judge David Campbell issued a preliminary injunction ordering
Arizona to stop enforcing the ban as of Monday. That cleared the way for an
estimated 22,000 immigrants who are covered by Obamafs Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals program to apply for licenses. The young immigrants call
themselves Dreamers.
Transportation Department spokesman Timothy Tait said the agency didnft know
how many Dreamers had obtained licenses or IDs on Monday, but he said that
turnout at Motor Vehicle Division offices was much heavier than usual. At the
Maryvale office on Phoenixfs west side, more than 100 people were waiting when
the doors opened. In south Phoenix, the line started forming at 4 a.m.
Maldonado, 19, who came to the U.S. from Mexico at age 8, became the first
Dreamer to get a license at the Maryvale office. gIt feels so nice,h he said.
gYou donft have to be hiding from nothing. Now I feel like a normal
driver.h
Obama instituted the deferred action program by executive order in 2012,
giving young immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally before their 16th
birthday and who met other requirements a reprieve from deportation and the
ability to receive work permits. Last month, he announced an executive action
that could defer deportation for up to 5 million more people.
In Arizona, however, the governor banned Dreamers from receiving any state
benefits, including driverfs licenses and IDs. When the Supreme Court turned
down Brewerfs emergency appeal last week, she vowed to keep fighting.
gThe right to determine who is issued a driver license is reserved for the
states — not the federal government or an unelected judiciary,h Brewer said last
week, calling the outcome goutrageous.h
gArizona has the constitutional right and authority to enforce state
statute,h she said in a statement. gThis right must be protected. It must be
defended. And as long as I am governor, I will do exactly that.h
Brewer, whose term as governor ends next month, did not comment Monday.
Arizona has until Feb. 22 to ask the Supreme Court for a full hearing on the
driverfs license ban.
Judge Campbell is scheduled to hear oral arguments in January on whether to
make his injunction permanent.
Daniel Pochoda, legal director for the ACLU of Arizona, said the Supreme
Court was unlikely to take up the issue now that Arizona was issuing driverfs
licenses to the immigrants.
gItfs happened. Itfs concrete,h he said. gWe think wefre on good grounds to
say that this has ended with the right legal result and the right human
result.h
Now, Nebraska is the only state that refuses to issue driverfs licenses to
Dreamers.
A co-founder of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, Dulce Matuz, said Arizonans
supported the Dreamers. She cited a 2012 Arizona State University survey that
found nearly three-quarters of registered voters favored a path to citizenship
for immigrants in the country illegally — a move that exceeds the presidentfs
executive actions.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released last month found a similar
level of support nationwide.
gThings are changing,h said Matuz, who emigrated from Mexico. gAnd theyfre
not changing because of elected officials. Theyfre changing because of ordinary
people that have the courage to stand up and say, eEnough is enough.f
gWefre not giving up,h she said. gWefre American in every way.... We know
wefre on the right side of history.h
Jose Chavez Herrera would agree with that sentiment. He was shaking from
emotion and the early morning chill when he walked out of the motor vehicle
office with an ID card Monday.
gItfs going to change my life,h he said. gI used to go to places with my
Mexican ID and they would be like, eNo, we donft take that,f or, eYou cannot do
this because you have this ID.fh
Now, Herrera said, gitfs like Ifm in the community with Arizonans.h