North Carolina said this week that they're abandoning their plain to issue pink-striped driver's licenses to illegal immigrants thanks to thousands of complaints they've received regarding the specially designed cards.
In place of the pink-stripe design, the licenses will instead looking like a regular license issued to people, but will also include the terms "Legal Presence/ No Lawful Status" and "Limited Term."
The state realized that such licenses are more efficient to produce if they look similar to traditional licenses issued to drivers who live in the country legally according to Mike Charbonneau, a spokesman for the state Transportation Department.
"My understanding is that when we're looking at that design, at the end of the day, we had to make sure we were following the letter of the law in the most efficient way possible," Charbonneau said according to the Associated Press.
N.C. will start issuing the licenses on Mar. 25 to people participating in the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Obama administration allows valid federal work permits to applicants that qualify to be brought as children to the U.S. without legal authorization.
Thousands of people have criticized the pink-stripe idea, including the American Civil Liberties Union as well as many local Hispanic groups and Jewish leaders. Their main complaint was that they felt it singled out holder of the I.D. card for possible "discrimination and humiliation" according to the Associated Press.
"Our efforts do not end when major discrimination turns into minor discrimination; it ends when we are 100 percent positive that discriminatory policies will not go into effect in our state," said Rabbi Eric Solomon of Raleigh's Beth Meyer Synagogue.
Solomon also stated it was disturbing that they wanted to issue the licenses on Monday, the eve of the Jewish holiday Passover.
State Governor Pat McCrory originally liked the pink-stripe idea, saying in Feb. that he signed off on what was called a "pragmatic compromise." The governor also liked the idea that it would help prevent people from accessing government services or being allowed to register to vote.
A spokeswoman representing McCory stated this week however that he now supports the new idea of just making normal looking licenses with the previously mentioned terms added.
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