Groups Urge DMV To Accept Federal Permit

RICHMOND (AP) – Sixty-seven organizations are asking the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to resume accepting a federal work permit as proof that a driver’s license applicant is legally in the U.S.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations released the organizations’ letter to the DMV Thursday.

The agency quit accepting Employee Authorization Documents as proof of legal status after a Bolivian immigrant twice convicted of drunken driving was involved in a car crash that killed one nun and injured two others.

Authorities said the man had used the federal work permit to get a state ID card even though he was facing deportation.

Critics say the DMV failed to consider the far reach of its decision on legally present immigrants.