Laura Berman of the Detroit News asks: Is state Secretary of State Ruth Johnson running for something?
Elected in 2010 after being a state legislator and Oakland County clerk, Johnson isn't up for re-election. But in the last six months, she has aggressively raised barriers to voting and driver's licenses, while carving out a partisan and controversial role for her office.
Johnson now has directed her staff to deny driver's licenses to young adult immigrants who get two-year deferrals from deportation under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
That program, announced by the White House in June, enables young workers and students, who arrived in the U.S. at 15 or younger, to get a two-year reprieve from deportation, including authorization to work and to obtain a Social Security card.
They are a sympathetic bunch — young people able and willing to document with great specificity how they came to the U.S. and who meet education and work requirements. Young people who believed they were getting a reprieve from official harassment.
But in Michigan, these under-31-year-olds won't be able to legally drive to work or school. Instead, they will spread the message of suspicion and distrust that's emanating from the secretary of state, in a state that ought to embrace newcomers.
