The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles announced two weeks ago that it will begin issuing driver’s licenses to immigrants, including some undocumented immigrants, beginning March 25.
State Transportation Secretary Tony Tata explained, “They will be able to come in and get a driver’s license. We will know who they are. They will have a license. They will have insurance, and it will make our roads safer.”
Both Republicans and Democrats agree that giving licenses to immigrants will make them better drivers. However, our legislators are arguing about the specifics. The immigrants the license would supposedly benefit are complaining about its design while Republicans are complaining about its legality.
First, some background. The Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, implemented June 2012, blocks deportation and grants federal work permits to qualified applicants brought to the United States as children, according to The Associated Press. DACA participants have “legal presence” even if they do not have “lawful status,” according to the office of Attorney General Roy Cooper.
This relates to the DMV in that it will mar the immigrants’ licenses with a bright pink stripe across the top and the bolded words “NO LAWFUL STATUS.” This could stigmatize the cardholders, as most people do not understand the difference between “legal presence” and “lawful status.” The concept is difficult at best.
According to the U.S. Immigration Visa Center, “There are a variety of situations where a person may not be in lawful status (out of legal status), but is still not accumulating unlawful presence.” The center outlines more than 15 different scenarios in which someone may have legal presence without lawful status.
The process is unclear, and most American citizens have no need to understand immigration policies. American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina attorney Raul Pinto is concerned that the “unnecessary marker . . . could lead to harassment, confusion and racial profiling.”
Conversely, Rep. Mark Brody (R-Union) is concerned that despite the pink markings, the words “Limited Term” along the right edge and “DEFERRED ACTION” in the background, the cardholder could somehow find a way to use this license to register to vote.
Under current North Carolina law, anyone with federal documentation of his or her legal presence in the United States can receive a license. Republicans proposed a bill Thursday to prevent the DMV from issuing licenses to DACA participants before June 15, to give them time to change state law.
If the DMV implements these licenses, they need to first redesign them. The license can still identify someone as a noncitizen without blatantly stating it in bold capital letters. The words “no lawful status” can be moved under the “Restrictions” subheading on the back of the license. If vote-registering agencies make it policy to check the back of the license, there won’t be a problem of voter fraud.
Concerns about the license’s design and voter fraud can be easily solved. However, the licenses themselves are unjustified. They expire after two years, which does not give DACA participants enough time to gain citizenship.
Because it doesn’t lead to citizenship, the program only permits a license for immigrants in the limbo between unlawful status and illegal presence — they can be easily identified and deported in two years.
It’s a euphemism, in a way. But after those two years, it’s all the same.
