Deportation Tales

The purpose of Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is to allow immigrants who are under 30 and came to the U.S. when they were under 16 to be able to attain work permits and avoid deportation. But driving is an essential part of being able to work and the states, not the federal government, decide who gets a drivers license. Connecticut and Illinois are the latest states to grant driver’s licenses to immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children and qualify for deferred deportation. The decisions mark another small victory for immigrant rights activists who have pressed harder for state governments to offer ID cards and in-state tuition to the undocumented immigrants who qualify for DACA. Not all states have responded favorably to DACA, however. Civil rights groups sued Arizona in November, after Gov. Jan Brewer issued an executive order on Aug. 15 saying the state would not provide ID’s to undocumented immigrants, whether they quali