When President Barack Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program last August, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer derided that policy as "deferred amnesty" and banned young undocumented recipients of it from acquiring driver's licenses in her state. Now, in a move which immigrant advocates denounce as "zealous" and "vindictive", she's expanding that ban to include all undocumented immigrants granted a deferral from deportation for any reason, including humanitarian ones - a group that includes victims of domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Late on Tuesday, Arizona's Department of Transportation issued a statement saying state law prohibited the department from "issuing an Arizona driver license or identification card to any applicant who cannot demonstrate, by proof satisfactory to the director and [Department of Transportation], that the applicant's presence in the United States is authorized under federal law." Previously, Brewer had argued that the two-year deferral of deportation procedures and work authorization that DACA granted to eligible young undocumented immigrants in her state did not mean they were entitled to licenses or other public benefits.
"This is a vindictive policy change that is motivated by politics, and Brewer's desire to get out from under a lawsuit," Alessandra Soler, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona, told Reuters in a statement. "It only reflects her continuing animus ... and her irrational desire to punish even more lawfully present immigrants by denying them the licenses they need to get to work and school, including abused women and their children." Soler's branch of the ACLU was one of several human rights groups which brought a lawsuit against the state of Arizona for Brewer's earlier denial of licenses to DACA recipients. Thus far, each side has managed partial victories - the judge has refused to issue an injunction rolling back Arizona's ban and threw out an argument that the ban was pre-empted by federal law, but added that the human rights groups would probably come out on top in the case.
Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, told the Los Angeles Times that the extension of the ban would harm abused women and children, whose deportations can be deferred under a special program which Arizona named in its new ban. "Women fleeing abusive situations should have our full support, not policies that keep them trapped," O'Neill said in a statement. "Taking away their ability to drive to work - or to safety - isn't just politically shortsighted, it's dangerous for women and their children."
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