After a legal battle of more than two years, approximately 22,000 people in Arizona who qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will finally be able to apply for and receive driver's licenses.
Last week, the U.S. District Judge David Campbell of the District of Arizona issued an order directing the State of Arizona that it must issue driver's licenses to DACA enrollees beginning Monday, December 22, 2014.
The order was issued after the U.S. Supreme Court to reject emergency appeal Governor Jan Brewer seeking to reverse Arizona's decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit..
The federal appeals court had ruled that blocking the issuance of driver's licenses to DACA recipients is unconstitutional and ordered the state to issue driver's licenses to DACA recipients.
Since President Obama authorized the DACA program in 2012, Governor Brewer said her state would not issue driver's licenses to DACA recipients.
So far, the cost of Governor Brewer's legal battle to block access to driver's licenses for DACA recipients has been more than $$1.5 million.
Governor Brewer has not only implemented a policy of discrimination against DACA recipients, but has wasted time and state money on an unnecessary legal battle that ultimately failed to achieve its goal.
