American Civil Liberties Union

Today, Roll Call published an op-ed we wrote on how curtailing immigration prisons is an easy way for Congress to begin to reduce the deficit, cut government spending, and reform our flawed immigration system.

In addition, there are several steps the Obama Administration can and should take now, without waiting for Congress, to reduce its unnecessary and expensive reliance on immigration prisons.  Here are four:

Change in our communities takes courage. Many times, that courage does not come from the politicians, but from ordinary people standing up for what is right.

DREAMers continue to stand up for human and civil rights every day. We are standing up against anti-immigrant policies. We are standing up for education & integration. We are standing up for equality. Let the voices of our oppressed youth be heard in the courts, which is exactly what will be taking place. DREAMers have collaborated with the ACLU and a civil rights coalition to file a lawsuit against Brewer’s executive order denying driver’s license to deferred action applicants. But this is much more than a legal battle; the fight we fight today is a moral fight.

This week, Wyoming confirmed that it will now provide driver’s licenses to young immigrants who came to the country as children, popularly known as “DREAMers.”  The decision is the latest victory for immigrant youth granted permission to live and work in the country under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) program.

Wyoming thus joins the chorus of states that have decided to let the DREAMers drive.  Generally, states limit driver’s licenses to immigrants who can show they are “authorized" or “legally present” in the United States.  Consistent with guidance from the federal government, the overwhelming majority of states have rightly acknowledged that immigrants granted DACA are legally authorized to be in the country, and thus eligible to drive.

Over the weekend, "NBC Nightly News" aired a segment on ranchers in rural Arizona concerned with border security. As is so often the case with media coverage of the border, this segment only included one side of the story – ranchers concerned about smugglers. Not included in this piece were the voices of many community members in the southwest—including ranchers – who are critical of the massive scale-up of border security, and the effect that it's had on their communities and ranches. For example, we have heard complaints from ranchers in the New Mexico boot heel region, who are concerned with Border Patrol agents "tearing up their land" or killing their cattle without paying them for their loss.