Below sent to Ms. Pamela Wilson
Public Affairs Officer
Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

I received a call from Jane Cowley this morning.
Department of Homeland Security

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Hi, Ms. Wilson, I hope all is well with you.

I am still writing on the DACA/drivers license topic and have a few more questions, please.

As per your response to one of my prior inquiries, USCIS stated that “Current law does not grant any legal status for the class of individuals who are current recipients of DACA. Recipients of DACA are currently unlawfully present in the U.S. with their removal deferred.”

The language of laws in most, if not all states, including Georgia (OCGA 50-36-1), uses the term “lawful presence” as a qualifier for drivers licenses and other public benefits. Applicants with DACA status are verified as eligible by the SAVE system for a Georgia drivers license. I have learned from a Georgia DDS response to a state senator’s question that “the SAVE response code for a non-citizen who has been granted deferred action status is 188 “INITL RESP. 188 DACA – EMLOY AUTH.”

Georgia DDS is issuing drivers licenses to DACA recipients based on this response which doesn’t seem to directly address either the legal status or lawful presence of the applicant for a drivers license.

Questions:

1) On the SAVE website, we see that SAVE “verifies an applicant’s immigration or citizenship status within seconds.” The reply “employment authorized” seems like an E-Verify response to an employment eligibility query, not a SAVE immigration status response. Can you please verify that this is indeed the response an official agency will receive to a query on eligibility for a drivers license involving a DACA recipient?

2) Since DACA does not grant legal status or lawful presence, why/how is a DDS SAVE query on a DACA recipient for a Georgia drivers license apparently providing a positive response to DDS which then uses that response to issue a drivers license?

I realize this is confusing and I hope that I have made my questions clear. Please call me anytime if I can help clarify. Also, if I am confused or wrong please explain my error?

Se

Thank you, if you can provide answers to insure my accuracy.

D.A. King
Marietta, Ga.

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Reply, recieved November 9, 2017 3:12 PM

1) On the SAVE website, we see that SAVE “verifies an applicant’s immigration or citizenship status within seconds.”  Is this also the case for an agency query on eligibility for a driver’s license involving a DACA recipient?

1. Yes. DHS issues DACA recipients documentation with information that can be used by SAVE registered agencies, including DMVs, to confirm that DHS has granted the individual DACA.

2) Since DACA does not grant legal status or lawful presence, why/how can a Department of Driver Service’s SAVE query on a DACA recipient for a Georgia driver’s license provide (*result in) a positive response, which then can be used to issue a driver’s license?

1. SAVE confirms and provides immigration record information to SAVE registered agencies.  SAVE does not make eligibility determinations for benefits.  Registered agencies use the information provided by SAVE to determine whether the applicant qualifies for the benefit based on the agency’s eligibility criteria found in their laws, regulations and policies.

Pamela Wilson
Spokesperson
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services