Ohio Bill Would Direct BMV to Issue Driver’s Licenses to Qualifying Undocumented Immigrants

Some undocumented immigrants who qualify for Ohio driver’s licenses under a new federal program are being turned away by various license bureaus, prompting two state lawmakers to call for statewide compliance to the federal rules.

The federal program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — known as DACA — was established in June by the Obama administration.

It gives immigrants who came here illegally as children two years of legal status so they can work, go to school, get a driver’s license and live like any U.S. citizen. The status can be renewed every two years.

But the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles has been questioning whether the federal program does confer legal status and whether it conflicts with the Ohio Revised Code.

As a result, the state’s deputy registrars have no guidance. Some have issued driver’s licenses to those who qualify for DACA; others have refused.

“This is not a gray area,” said state Sen. Eric Kearney, a Cincinnati Democrat, and co-sponsor of legislation to standardize and enforce the federal rules throughout the state so that no one qualifying through the DACA program is denied a license.

“These individuals are not illegal. They are undocumented and our federal government has carved out a legal status for them.”

The legislation was introduced Tuesday by Kearney and Sen. Charleta Tavares, a Columbus Democrat.

Joe Andrews, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the BMV, said Tuesday that lawyers for the bureau had not yet decided whether DACA conflicts with Ohio law.

“If the proposed legislation is passed and signed into law, of course we would obey the law,” he said.

State Attorney General Mike DeWine said the matter is confusing because DACA “is not a federal law. It’s an order by the president of the United States.”

And whether the order conflicts with Ohio law, he said, “is a very close call.”

DeWine said the Department of Public Safety has not asked his office for a legal opinion on the matter. “But it would seem to us,” he said, “that these individuals are entitled, under current law, to get a driver’s license.”

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