Driver’s licenses for some immigrants are questioned

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Driver’s licenses for some young illegal immigrants in Ohio are being blocked by state officials questioning whether a new federal program gives the immigrants temporary legal status.

The Plain Dealer reports that Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles offices apparently are reaching differing conclusions about those immigrants’ status.

The federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program established last year by President Barack Obama’s administration gives immigrants who came here illegally as children two years of legal status, allowing work permits and Social Security numbers.

Some states are issuing driver’s licenses to those in the federal program, and others are not.

A spokesman for Ohio’s Department of Public Safety, which oversees the BMV, says the department’s lawyers are trying to determine whether the federal program “coincides” with state law.