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Lawmakers Seek To Provide Professional Licenses To DACA Recipients

Lauren Chapman
/
IPB News

Indiana House lawmakers took steps Tuesday to ensure recipients of the federal immigration program known as DACA will be able to receive and renew professional licenses.

The Indiana Professional Licensing Agency recently changed its applications to better comply with a 2011 state immigration law. The move meant thousands of DACA recipients were barred from professional licenses.

Rep. Ed Clere (R-New Albany) says PLA is only following state law – but that law has serious consequences.

“This is devastating to individuals and harmful to employers who will lose a cosmetologist or a plumber or an engineer or a nurse,” Clere says.

An amendment offered by Clere in a House committee allows people to receive licenses as long as the federal government allows them to work, which is a primary facet of DACA.

The federal program is the subject of significant debate in Congress and ongoing litigation in federal court.

The amended bill was approved. It now moves to the House.

Brandon Smith is excited to be working for public radio in Indiana. He has previously worked in public radio as a reporter and anchor in mid-Missouri for KBIA Radio out of Columbia. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, Illinois as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, Missouri, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.