Arizona Defends Denying Driver’s Licenses to ‘Dreamers,’ Judge Suggests it’s “Racism”
Arizona’s legal team came to Pasadena on Thursday to defend the state’s refusal to issue driver’s licenses to so-called Dreamers, and found that one member of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was in no mood for legal maneuvering.
Under court order, Arizona began issuing licenses and ID cards in February for the estimated 22,000 immigrants covered by the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA. President Obama’s program gives Dreamers, the young immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally before their 16th birthday and who meet other requirements, a reprieve from deportation and the ability to receive work permits. . .
Pregerson asked why Arizona continued to try to deny benefits to Dreamers. “Does it come down to racism? Does it come down to discrimination against these people? What else does it come down to?” he asked.
[Since Obama’s unconstitutional executive amnesty in 2012,] states have steadily dropped their objections to giving licenses to Dreamers. The penultimate holdout, Nebraska, ended its objections in May. Only Arizona continues to fight.
“The state wants to enjoy a prerogative it simply does not have,” Dreamer Coalition attorney Karen Tumlin told the three judges. “This case is about discrimination, pure and simple.” (Read more from “Arizona Defends Denying Driver’s Licenses to ‘Dreamers,’ Faces Skeptical Judge” HERE)
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