An appeals court has ruled that the state of Arizona cannot deny driver's licenses to young immigrants with work permits granted under an Obama administration policy, despite Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's 2012 executive order directing state agencies otherwise.  

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that young immigrants who are denied driver's licenses are harmed by Arizona's unequal treatment, and blocked the policies in place that allow the state of Arizona to do so. 

In June 2012, the Obama administration took measures to shield thousands of young immigrants from deportation. Under the measure, the applicants had to be brought into the United States under the age of 16, and had to be under the age of 30 at the time of their application.

They also had to be in the U.S. for at least five years, and have graduated from high school, completed their GED or joined the military. If the stipulations were met, they were allowed to apply for a renewable, two-year permit to stay in the U.S. legally.

Following that measure, Gov. Jan Brewer issued executive order in August 2012 directing state agencies to deny the same group of immigrants benefits in the state of Arizona, including driver's licenses. 

The executive order essentially blocked the rights given to the immigrants by the federal government, and it was met with opposition from immigration rights supporters, who called the measure "unconstitutional."

Despite the opposition, U.S. District Judge David Campbell sided with the state of Arizona in May 2013, rejecting the argument from critics.

However, Judge Campbell also noted that the immigration rights advocates were likely to be successful due to the state of Arizona only blocking the immigrants covered under Obama's policies, while alloting for other immigrants to receive benefits from the state. 

After Campbell's ruling, the state of Arizona revised the executive order to block all immigrants from receiving driver's licenses, not just the group given federal protection.

According to the governor's attorney, the measure meant to block immigrants from obtaining state benefits was to remove liability from the state for issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, and also to reduce the chances of undocumented immigrants from obtaining public benefits, such as welfare. 

The executive orders have now been ruled as unconstitutional under Monday's ruling.