DREAM Act Portal Forum - DACA Recipient Driver’s License Renewal on Hold

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BROWNSVILLE - A Brownsville woman said a glitch is holding up her driver’s license renewal.

The woman asked us not to be identified. She said she came to the U.S. with her parents at age 11. At 19, she was able to get her driver’s license.

However, the time came to renew it.

“She gave me the paperwork and everything. I filled it out and then they called me to the back to take a picture… They took my finger print, and eye test and everything,” she said.

The woman said she has a valid work permit, a Social Security number and car insurance.

But she was denied her driver’s license because they are currently working with the government to approve DACA recipients.

“I was scared because I want my license. I cannot go to work without my license,” she said.

CHANNEL 5 NEWS contacted the Department of Public Safety to see what went wrong. A spokesman with DPS said we needed to check with immigration.

Steven Tipton is an immigration attorney. He said the woman is one of his clients.

Tipton said they both went to the Department of Motor Vehicles Wednesday morning.

“They told her she couldn’t get a license because they’re having some sort of situation with immigration. They weren’t sure,” he said.

Tipton spoke with an employee of the agency about the problem. He was told a mistake caused the problem.

What happened is she had an older work visa. She recently got a new work visa that overlapped, and I think the system was picking up the older date… I think that’s what was happening,” he explained.

The attorney said the policies for DACA have not changed. He’s expecting his client to get her driver’s license sometime next week.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals permit allows children who came to the U.S. before June 2007 and before they turned 16 years old to obtain work permits. The permit allows them to stay in the U.S. and lasts for two years with subject to renewal.

CHANNEL 5 NEWS reached out to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The agency has yet to respond to our request.

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