Connecticut has become the latest state to grant driver’s licenses to immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children and qualify for deferred deportation.
Undocumented immigrants with federal documentation proving their deportation proceedings have been deferred will receive an “unverified” license valid for driving within the state, but that won’t be Real ID-complient, Connecticut’s Undersecretary for Criminal Justice told the New Haven Register.
Though Governor Dannel Malloy's office confirmed the change in policy, it was announced by local religious group Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut at a rally on Sunday, the paper reports. The Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles website already reflects the change.
The decision marks 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 benefit from the Obama administration’s June directive known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or 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 wouldn’t provide ID’s to undocumented immigrants, whether they qualify for DACA or not.
The ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center has also filed suit against Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson for denying driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.
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