By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services/Arizona Capitol Times
State officials are going to grant driver’s licenses to some people not in the country legally even as Arizona continues to deny the same privilege to “dreamers.”
The Department of Transportation has decided that those granted “parole in place” by the Obama administration are legally “authorized” to be in this country, ADOT spokesman Timothy Tait said Monday.
That distinction is critical.
A 1996 state law says licenses are available only to those who are citizens or whose presence is “authorized by federal law.” And Tait said his agency reads the Immigration and Naturalization Act to specifically grant the administration the power to allow undocumented relatives of those serving in the military or who have served to remain.
By contrast, ADOT, under directive from Gov. Jan Brewer, has decided that those in the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, does not meet that definition. That program is implemented by the Obama administration for others who are not in this country legally.
