Immigrant rights groups are cheering Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s decision to allow people brought to the U-S as children to get a driver’s license.
The change in policy reflects new federal guidelines that grant this group status as temporary residents of the U-S.
More from The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta.
Areli Garcia was brought to the U-S 20 years ago when she was three. Her parents were not legal residents at the time.
Garcia grew up in metro Detroit and recently graduated from college with a degree in business administration. She was getting ready to move to Chicago. Now she says she’ll look for a job closer to home with the car she got as a graduation gift.
“So it’s just a car, sitting in the driveway, that I couldn’t really drive," she says. "Now I will. I’ll use it to take my sister to school, to work.”
Garcia says she’d like next to become a citizen of the country she’s lived in almost her entire life, instead of worrying about what happens if and when her legal status changes.
