Arizona is permanently prohibited from withholding driver’s licenses and other state-issued identification from young immigrants who have been granted permission to live and work in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a federal judge ruled late Thursday.
In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge David G. Campbell made permanent his December order temporarily enjoining Arizona from enforcing its ban on driver’s licenses for these young illegal aliens. Former Arizona governor Jan Brewer instituted the ban in 2012.
In addition to the ACLU of Arizona and the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund challenged Brewer’s executive order and related policies in court, alleging the ban violated DACA recipients’ constitutional right to equal protection under the law.
The judge ruled: “Defendants and their officials, agents, and employees, and all persons acting in concert or participating with them, are permanently enjoined from enforcing any policy or practice by which the Arizona Department of Transportation refuses to accept Employment Authorization Documents, issued under DACA, as proof that the document holders are authorized under federal law to be present in the United States for purposes of obtaining a driver’s license or state identification card.