In 2012, the Obama Administration announced that young immigrants who were brought by their parents to the United States as children and who attended American schools are now eligible to remain in the country and work here under a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Even though Michigan law says that all immigrants who are “legally present” are eligible for driver’s licenses, Secretary of State Ruth Johnson refused to issue licenses to DACA recipients.
In December 2012, the ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center sued Johnson to compel her to follow the law. In February 2013 the Secretary of State backed down and announced that she would begin issuing driver’s licenses to DACA recipients.
(One Michigan v. Johnson; ACLU of Michigan Attorneys Miriam Aukerman, Sarah Mehta and Michael J. Steinberg; National ACLU Attorneys Jennifer Chang Newell and Michael Tan; Cooperating Attorneys Jason Raofield and Anthony Lopez of Covington & Burling; Tanya Broder of the National Immigration Law Center.)
View the full 2013-2014 Legal Docket.