California qualifies young illegal immigrants for driver's licenses

California qualifies young illegal immigrants for driver's licenses (Alberta Times) California Governor Jerry Brown signed bill AB 2189 on Sunday, granting 16-year-olds who came to the United States before...

California qualifies young illegal immigrants for driver's licenses (Alberta Times) California Governor Jerry Brown signed bill AB on Sunday 2189, allowing "dream" illegal immigrants who came to the United States when they were 16 years old and under the age of 30 to apply for a California driver's license. The California bill is an extension of the Deferred Action for Action plan for young illegal immigrants that Obama enacted months ago. "President Obama is aware of the unique situation of these students and the obvious next step is to make them eligible to apply for driver's licenses," said Jill Duran, a spokesperson for Brown. As many as 350,000 illegal immigrants in California may benefit from this plan of the Obama administration. The California bill was introduced by Democratic Rep. Gil Cedillo and is known as the "anti-Arizona" bill. Because Arizona passed a bill not to issue driver's licenses to these young illegal immigrants. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) considers the federal deferred action program to grant driver's licenses to those who qualify. Zedillo's bill would require the DMV to accept any documents provided by the federal government to applicants to apply for a driver's license. In addition to signing AB 2189, which allows "Dream" illegal immigrants to apply for driver's licenses, Governor Brown vetoed AB 1081, the Trust Act, which would allow California to withdraw from some federal immigration enforcement programs. The plans require local law enforcement officers to run fingerprints of arrested persons against federal immigration databases and detain those who are here illegally. The TRUST Act prohibits local law enforcement officers from detaining criminal suspects who may be subject to deportation unless they are charged with a serious or violent felony.