PHOENIX — State transportation officials are anticipating a crush of customers Monday as “dreamers” may flood Motor Vehicle Division offices to finally get licenses to drive.
Beginning at 8 a.m. Monday, more than 22,000 Arizonans who have qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will become legally able to drive.
But first they have to apply for and qualify for a license. That means meeting all the other requirements, including providing photo ID and proof of age, and take both a written and a road test.
And what that all means is that the offices are likely to be crowded. And ADOT is saying that anyone who does not need to go to the MVD on Monday might be better off staying away.
The rush comes following a preliminary injunction issued Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell prohibiting Arizona from refusing to license DACA recipients.
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These are individuals who arrived in this country illegally as children and meet other conditions. The DACA policy, announced in 2012 by the Obama administration, allows them to stay and provides them with documents that allow them to work in this country.
It is that document that Gov. Jan Brewer, in an executive order, told the state Department of Transportation not to honor as proof that the holders are “authorized by federal law” to be in this country. That authorization is a requirement of a 1996 Arizona law.
Campbell’s injunction overrides Brewer’s order.
ADOT spokesman Tim Tait said the licenses issued to dreamers will be identical to those given to other Arizonans who meet the requirements to drive — with one significant difference: The licenses will expire on a regular basis.
That is because the DACA status — and the employment authorization documents — are currently good for only two years, though they are renewable. So the licenses will have an expiration date the same as the employment documents, meaning dreamers will need to renew their licenses each time they get a new employment card.
An expansion of the deferred action program announced last month by President Obama may help. It will make deferrals good for up to three years.
Other Arizonans are entitled to get licenses good until their 65th birthday, regardless of how many years away that is, though there is a requirement for a new photo every 12 years. At that point licenses must be renewed every five years.
ADOT notes that there are many transactions — not including getting a license — that can be handled online, providing an alternative to going to an MVD office for some people.
Offices are open until 5 p.m., but anyone needing a road test needs to get there no later than 3:30 p.m., if not earlier, as there are only a limited number of time slots available each day.
