Court Upholds Ariz. Law Denying “Dreamers” Licenses

In a much-needed victory for immigration enforcement, a federal court has ruled in favor of an order issued months ago by Arizona’s governor banning illegal aliens from getting a driver’s license in the state.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer created the policy last August to help counter the Obama administration’s stealth amnesty program, which is sparing hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens from deportation. Under the plan, called “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,” illegal immigrants under the age of 30 who came to the U.S. as children can remain in the country and obtain work permits. President Obama sidestepped Congress and created it in June via executive order.

Brewer fought back with her own order to stop illegal immigrants who obtain work permits under the federal program from getting taxpayer-funded perks or licenses in her state. In the document Brewer explains that allowing Arizona’s 80,000 deferred action recipients improper access to state or local benefits will have significant and lasting impacts on the state’s budget, its healthcare system and additional public benefits that taxpayers fund.

The open borders movement sued, asserting that the measure is unjust and unconstitutional because it violates the supremacy and equal protection clauses of the United States Constitution. In a 32-page complaint the open borders groups—including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)—claim the young immigrants are Americans in their heart, mind and in every single way but one: on paper.

A federal court didn’t buy it, however, ruling this month that Arizona can deny driver’s licenses to the illegal aliens spared under Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The Phoenix federal judge wrote in his ruling that the plaintiffs “have not shown a likelihood of irreparable injury and have not otherwise met the high burden for a mandatory injunction” of Arizona’s license measure.  

Of course the immigration rights groups will continue pursuing further legal action, forcing Arizona to waste more taxpayer dollars to defend its measure. Governor Brewer assures that she will “vigorously defend” Arizona law and called the ruling “a victory for states’ rights, the rule of law and the bedrock principles that guide our nation’s legislative process and the division of power between the federal government and states. “