photo; DDS

Part of the mystery around DDS and the number of drivers licenses issued to illegal aliens with DACA has been solved.

I wrote here last week that the number of illegals living in Georgia with DACA status was wildly different than what DDS told state Senator Josh McKoon had been issued a Georgia drivers license.

USCIS put out a report on September 4, 2017 saying there are 21,600 DACA recipients in Georgia. DDS responded to a question from senator McKoon that they had issued more than 48,000 drivers licenses to DACA winners.

As I also wrote here and here, the intention was to create some interest in the disparity (and the fact that DACA illegal aliens are issued the same drivers license as legal immigrants).

To my knowledge, neither the Georgia news media or most in state government was curious enough to pursue this one. So we did.

Bottom line: DDS answered a question that was not asked.

The question from senator McKoon: “How many drivers licenses were issued to aliens with DACA since July 1, 2012 as of July 31, 2017? How many ID Cards, same time frame?”

The answer from DDS: “a query of our main frame on August 7-8, based on your request, reflects that DDS has issued 48,935 drivers licenses and 8,705 Georgia ID cards tons-citizenswho are under DACA status where the SAVE response code was 188 (DACA -Employment Authorized).”

Seems pretty clear here. But it’s not. When nobody else did, we asked Susan Sports, DDS Public Information Officer about the difference.

Her October 13 reply:

“The numbers reported were in response to a very specific request. Our numbers include the number of issuances over a span of five years to DACA recipients which also includes multiple issuances to individuals who may have sought renewals, address changes, or replacement for lost licenses. Therefore our numbers would naturally differ from USCIS because we have measured our numbers by issuance events. I hope this is helpful.”

It is helpful. But the DDS original answer was to a question that was not asked and the cause of the confusion.

The question of why the Republican-controlled state legislature does not change the fact that DDS gives the same drivers license to illegal aliens with DACA that it issues to legal immigrants and guest workers is still a mystery to most Georgians.