Drivers Licenses Now Available for DACA-Eligible Youth in CA

Flickr/epSos.de

Late at night on Sunday, September 30, Governor Jerry Brown (D-Calif.) signed into law a bill that would allow youth eligible for President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to apply for driver's licenses.

Originally proposed by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), Assembly Bill 2189 was designed to eliminate the confusion surrounding documentation faced by undocumented youth when they apply for driver's licenses at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Other benefits of the law include making the roads safer by teaching people who are already driving to drive properly, and allowing young immigrants to drive to and from school and work.

AB 2189 is projected to impact nearly 400,000 youth, or around 25 percent of the undocumented immigrant population in California  who fit DACA's requirements. Under the new law, the paperwork and documentation needed to qualify for DACA will also be accepted as legitimate documentation for driver's licenses. Those eligible for deferred action must be between the ages of 15 and 31, have come to the United States before age 16 and lived here for five years, be in school, have graduated from high school with the intent of pursuing a higher education, or have served in the military.

Sydney Hofferth is a Communications Intern for Campus Progress. You can follow her on twitter at @squidhoff10.

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