A group of civil-liberties and immigrant-rights organizations is expected to file a lawsuit today challenging Gov. Jan Brewer’s executive order denying driver’s licenses to young undocumented immigrants approved for federal work permits under President Barack Obama’s deferred-action program.
The lawsuit would mark the first legal challenge against a state for denying driver’s licenses to young undocumented immigrants authorized to live and work temporarily in the U.S. under the program.
The lawsuit could affect other states that have also denied driver’s licenses to non-citizens protected from deportation under the program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
The lawsuit is expected to be filed by the Arizona and national chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the National Immigration Law Center.
The same groups are involved in an ongoing civil-rights lawsuit challenging Arizona’s immigration-enforcement law, Senate Bill 1070.