It's permanent, 'dreamers' can keep licenses

• U.S. District Judge David Campbell makes injunction to block driver%27s-license ban permanent.
• %22Dreamers%22 with work permits began applying for licenses on Dec. 22.

A federal judge on Thursday permanently ordered Arizona to keep allowing young immigrants known as "dreamers" to get driver's licenses.

U.S. District Judge David Campbell's ruling comes a month after he issued a temporary injunction forcing Arizona to start allowing dreamers with work permits through President Barack Obama's deferred-action program to get licenses.

"This means they can keep their licenses," said Araceli Martinez-Olguin, a senior attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project.

Campbell's ruling dealt another blow to the state's argument that dreamers who receive work permits through Obama's deferred-action program are not legally entitled to get licenses.

He sided with dreamers who sued the state to overturn former Gov. Jan Brewer's executive order denying driver's licenses to any dreamers who receive work permits through Obama's program.

More than 20,000 dreamers in Arizona have received work permits through the program, which defers deportation and gives work permits to certain immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as minors.

Lawyers for the ACLU and several other groups argued that Arizona's license ban should be permanently blocked because it discriminates against the dreamers granted work permits through Obama's program. They pointed out that other non-citizens who receive similar work permits were able to get licenses.

The lawyers also argued that a permanent injunction was warranted because Brewer's ban had "irreparably harmed" dreamers by limiting their access to jobs and forcing them to drive illegally.

Lawyers for the state, however, argued that Obama's program was created outside of immigration laws passed by Congress and therefore immigrants who receive work permits through the program do not have a legal presence in the U.S. As a result, they are not eligible to apply for driver's licenses under state law, which requires that applicants prove they have a legal presence.

Campbell disagreed, finding that dreamers who receive work permits through Obama's program were no different than other non-citizens whose work permits made them eligible for driver's licenses in Arizona.

"It's heartening that the judge saw through" that argument, Martinez-Olguin said.

The legal battle may not yet be over. Before leaving office earlier this month, Brewer had vowed to try and take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gov. Doug Ducey, who took office Jan. 5, has not indicated whether he will continue the legal battle, which has cost Arizona more than $1.5 million.

His spokesman, Daniel Scarpinato, said Ducey was reviewing the ruling.

Campbell's decision comes as the federal government is preparing to expand Obama's deferred-action program in February.

The new version will eliminate an age cap, allowing even more dreamers to apply. It will also allow dreamers to receive deportation deferments and work permits for three years instead of two.

Obama announced the changes as part of the executive actions he ordered in December.

The executive actions also include a separate deferred-action program for undocumented parents with U.S. citizen children. Some 4 million undocumented parents may be eligible for deportation deferments and work permits under that program, which will take effect in May.