Potential harsher federal immigration policies under the new presidential administration pose special concern for young Georgians whose parents brought them to the United States as children. A new federal crackdown threatens havoc for tens of thousands of young Georgians who now enjoy some limited legal protections which allow them to work, go to school and avoid deportation. In doing so, it could cause headaches for Georgia employers and deprive the state’s economy of thousands of productive, upwardly mobile workers.
An estimated 47,000 Georgians, most of them in their late teen years or 20s, are now enrolled or immediately eligible for a federal program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Created in 2012, DACA allows some undocumented immigrants brought here as children to live and work in the U.S. without threat of deportation. If the new presidential administration eliminates DACA as promised, these 47,000 young Georgians stand to lose their ability to work or access higher education. Federal authorities could also choose to deport them to the countries of their birth, even if they lived the bulk of their life in the U.S.
Policies affecting access to driver’s licenses have changed in numerous ways over the years in
New York State, and around the country. Today, 12 states, plus the District of Columbia and
Puerto Rico, make it possible for immigrants to get driver’s licenses without regard to their
immigration status.
Until 2003, New York State allowed residents to apply for driver’s licenses without regard to
their immigration status. Proposals are now pending in the New York State legislature that would
allow all state residents to apply for a driver’s license, irrespective of their immigration status.
Currently, 37 percent of unauthorized immigrants live in a place where they can get a driver’s
license; if a bill passed in New York, that share would increase to 44 percent.
If a policy was implemented allowing all age eligible immigrants, regardless of immigration status, to obtain a license, the Fiscal Policy Institute estimates that 97,000 additional cars would be purchased and registered in about a three year period, a one percent increase in the total number of vehicles in the state.
An innovative analysis compares the vehicle ownership rates in households that include an unauthorized immigrant with other immigrant households. The comparison adjusts for household income, number of adults per household, and the “take-up rate” for unauthorized immigrants getting licenses.
How many unauthorized immigrants actually get licenses when driver’s license policies are expanded to allow them to apply?
The Fiscal Policy Institute looks at the experience of five states and the District of Columbia, and finds that, based on these examples, between 25 percent and 50 percent of unauthorized immigrants over the age of 16 obtain a license in the first three years.