NE asks judge to toss out immigrant's lawsuit over driver's license policy

LINCOLN — Attorneys for Nebraska have asked a federal judge to toss out a woman’s lawsuit that challenges the state’s denial of driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants who have received temporary authorization to remain in the United States.

A 40-page legal brief, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Lincoln, argues that the young immigrants who qualify for work authorization under the federal program do not have “lawful status.” Nebraska law requires applicants to prove their lawful status before the state will issue a driver’s license.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, often referred to as DACA, was started last year by President Barack Obama to allow young immigrants to live and work in the nation they were illegally brought to as children.

Nebraska and Arizona are the only states that continue to deny driver’s licenses to immigrants who have received the renewable, two-year deferred action permits. Both states are in court over the policies.

Lawyers for Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said in their brief that Nebraska passed legislation in 2011 adopting the definition of lawful status contained in the federal Real ID Act of 2005.

Both state and federal law list the valid forms of identification that applicants must present when seeking a driver’s license. A deferred action authorization is not valid by itself and must be accompanied by a second approved document before a driver’s license can be issued.

Immigrants with deferred action approval who seek driver’s licenses lack the additional documentation, the state argued. That includes Mayra Saldana, the 24-year-old Nebraska City woman who sued the state in May.

“Plaintiff does not possess, nor could she ever possess as a DACA recipient, sufficient documentation to establish she possesses lawful status in the United States under state and federal law,” the attorneys argue in the brief.

Saldana was born in Mexico but has lived in the United States since she was 2. She said she works and attends college, but not having a driver’s license makes it more difficult to carry out her daily obligations.

Her lawsuit argues that Nebraska’s policy violates the federal government’s authority to regulate immigration.

The legal brief says Nebraska appears “somewhat unique” among the states in requiring proof of lawful status. A review of some other states’ laws, including Iowa’s, showed that their standard is lawful “presence.” That could make it easier for applicants to qualify for driver’s licenses in those states.

Nebraska’s brief asked U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp to dismiss the lawsuit. But if the court allows the lawsuit to proceed, the state seeks the denial of a preliminary injunction, which would halt Nebraska’s enforcement of the driver’s license policy while the case was litigated.

The federal government has authorized deferred action for more than 1,500 immigrants in Nebraska and 1,300 immigrants in Iowa. Nationally, more than 300,000 immigrants have received the authorization out of an estimated 1.7 million who may qualify.

In June, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of four immigrants in Lancaster County District Court. The state has not yet filed a written response to that lawsuit.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130806/NEWS/130809379/1707