Michigan Dreamers
 

Hello All,
I will be moving to Michigan for Grad school very soon and I was wondering what is the atmosphere like in this state for Dreamers?

1. Is it easy to obtain DL or state ID?
2. Are there alot of immigration checkpoints throughout the state?
3. Is Michigan very Trump conservative?
4. Any places to avoid?
5. Where is most of the immigrant community located, if any?

Anything else I should know about living in this state that you think would come in handy for any dreamer?

Thanks.

Re: Michigan Dreamers
 

What school if you dont mind me asking? I lived in michigan for HS briefly, family and sibling (w/ daca) still live there, i fly there often.

Michigan is interesting, kind of a mix of a liberal state in some ways, and a red/southern state in others. You can obtain DL same as other states if you have valid daca, but you have to renew it every year, not even 2 like your EAD.

Some parts are very Trump/conservative, others more liberal, really depends how close/far you live from the main cities (detroit, lansing, AA, GR, TC). Ann arbor and traverse city are from what i gather by far the most liberal / less conservative. Suburbs are somewhat more conservative and rural areas are pretty conservative (like everywhere else i guess)

in almost 20 years i've traveled there (flying and driving) i've never come across any immigration checkpoints, they are pretty rare in michigan but these are new times so be careful, especially in more rural highways. You will see more ICE/DHS presence in certain communities though (immigrant/poor/POC)

Re: Michigan Dreamers
 

Thank you for your response. I'll be attending University of Michigan so I'm glad to hear Ann Arbor is more immigrant friendly. I'm mostly concerned about my family visiting as they have nothing, do you think is safer for them to visit by car or plane?

Re: Michigan Dreamers
 

You do see CBP/DHS agents driving around in Detroit itself. The people I knew who lived there said they really didn't bother them but have been reading things are not as good anymore (read up on that father that was a bit too old for DACA and never had any sort of arrest and was deported a couple months ago). I used to fly in/out of DTW fairly often and never saw CBP/DHS there.

Congrats on getting into U of M, it's a good school and Ann Arbor is a great little place.