Federal program allows some illegal immigrants to work, but they won`t be able to drive in Michigan

Secretary of State Ruth Johnson`s office earlier this month informed branch workers they should not issue driver`s licenses or state identification cards to individuals granted  employment authorization cards under the federal program.

Critics say the move is misguided and runs counter to the spirit of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was was announced in June by President Barack Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

“It feels absurd to say that we`re going to recognize your merit, we`re going to allow you to go to work and school, but you cannot drive a car to get there,” said Susan Reed, supervising attorney for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center in Kalamazoo.

“These are young people who have lived in the U.S. almost their entire life. They`re ready to contribute. Many of them have already graduated from college, and they`re ready to buy cars and pay for insurance.”

The federal program provides qualifying applicants with a renewable two-year deportation deferral. It is open to illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before they were 16, are under age 31 and have lived here for five years, are enrolled or have graduated from high school and do not pose a safety threat.

Michigan law requires a non-citizen to provide “documents demonstrating his or her legal presence in the United States” in order to obtain a driver`s license or ID card. The Secretary of State determines which documents qualify, and the agency recentlyupdated its guidelines to indicate DACA designation is not sufficient.

Johnson`s position is based, in part, on information provided by the Department of Homeland Security`s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “Deferred action does not provide an individual with lawful status,”??

Pointing to that language, spokesman Fred Woodhams said the Secretary of State is taking direction from the federal government as to who is and is not legally in the country.

“Because the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program doesn`t confer legal presence on its participants, we are not able to issue licenses or ID cards to DACA participants,” Woodhams said in an email. “As its name implies, the program merely defers action on the individual and doesn`t make the individual legally present in the United States.”

But legal status and legal presence are not the same thing, according to Reed, who believes the Secretary of State is “conflating” two distinct concepts of immigration law.

“Legal status is granted by Congress and legal presence can be granted by the Department of Homeland Security,” she said. “And that`s really what`s going on in the deferred action program.”

If the Secretary of State is seeking guidance from the federal government, Reed said the department should look at the REAL ID Act of 2005 that was signed into law by President George W. Bush. The act, which predates the new program, directs states to accept deferred status as valid documentation for immigrants seeking a driver`s license or ID.

But Michigan is not required to comply with the REAL ID act (every state in the nation applied for extensions), and legislators made that clear last year when they amended a state statute. Public Act 159 of 2011 also struck language from state law that defined a legally present individual as “a person authorized by the United States government for employment in the United States.” 

Michigan is not the only state that will not allow DACA beneficiaries to drive. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer ordered officials in her state not to issue licenses to immigrants granted deferred status. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, meanwhile, called the program a “slap in the face to the rule of law,” but that state`s department of public safety said it will issue licenses to qualifying immigrants.

A number of legal groups could challenge Johnson`s decision, Reed said, “but there`s still an opportunity for the Secretary of State to look more closely at the law.”

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