Dec. 23--REPORTING FROM PHOENIX -- Sunrise was still hours away when Ramon Maldonado showed up at an Arizona Department of Transportation office to apply for a driver's license Monday.
After waiting 2 1/2 years for the right to take the licensing exam, Maldonado wasn't about to wait a minute longer than necessary. And he wasn't alone: When he arrived at 5:30 a.m., more than two hours before the Phoenix ADOT office was scheduled to open, six others were already in line.
Last week U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell issued a preliminary injunction, ordering Arizona to stop enforcing Gov. Jan Brewer's ban on issuing driver's licenses and ID cards to young immigrants living in the U.S. illegally who were granted work permits under President Obama's deferred-action program.
Campbell's decision required Arizona to begin accepting applications for state documents for the young so-called Dreamers, who were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents. That order went into effect Monday and thousands of "Dreamers" lined up at ADOT offices across the state.
"It feels so nice," said Maldonado, who passed his written and driving test and was the first Dreamer to be issued a license at the Maryvale office in Phoenix. "You don't have to be hiding from nothing. Now I feel like a normal driver."
Campbell's decision frees approximately 22,000 immigrants living here illegally to apply for a driver's license in Arizona and crowds were larger than usual at many ADOT offices.
Campbell is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case on Jan. 7.
Brewer contends that determining who is eligible to drive is a matter for the states, not the federal government, to determine, and has promised to challenge an appellate court's ruling before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nebraska is currently the only state that continues to ban Dreamers from applying for driver's licenses.
