by The Associated Press
The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles is canceling driver's licenses mistakenly issued to 13 illegal immigrants.
Federal authorities began accepting applications in August under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which grants work permits to immigrants brought to the United States as minors without authorization. North Carolina typically grants driver's licenses to non-citizens with valid federal work papers.
But before anyone under the new program applied for driver's licenses, then-DMV Commissioner Michael Robertson issued orders not to grant any. Robertson asked Attorney General Roy Cooper in September to determine whether doing so would violate state law. Cooper has not yet responded.
DMV spokeswoman Marge Howell said Tuesday 13 people who used DACA papers to get driver's licenses will have those licenses cancelled until the legal issue is settled.
