State Rep. Pat McElraft is trying to get a DMV examiner reinstated.

The Emerald Isle Republican said in a statement Wednesday that she talked to officials with the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles to try to persuade them to rehire Jeffrey Brown, Dan Kane reports.

Brown, 34, is the former examiner who said he was fired after raising questions about illegal immigrants obtaining drivers licenses. He is suing to get his job back.

McElraft, whose district includes Brown's home, said she thinks he was fired for bringing the illegal immigrant issue to his supervisors' attentions.

"Mr. Brown is exactly the kind of person that the North Carolina Whistleblower Act was implemented to protect," McElraft said. "I tried to get the DMV on numerous occasions to do the right thing for Mr. Brown before this lawsuit was filed. The DMV declined to make things right.

"It is unfortunate that Jeff must go to court to fix what the DMV management structure should have fixed long before things got to this point."

More after the jump.

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A former examiner for the state Division of Motor Vehicles claims in a lawsuit filed today that he was fired for raising concerns about drivers licenses being issued to people who may be here illegally, or who would be given driving privileges long after their visas expire.

Jeffrey M. Brown, 34, of Jones County worked for the DMV from July 2006 until early April, when he said the division made up reasons to fire him, reports Dan Kane.

According to the lawsuit, DMV officials said he had unnecessarily detained a customer over concerns the man may have been in the United States illegally, that Brown had become “loud and argumentative” when his request to leave early one day per week to coach his daughter’s soccer team was turned down, and that he had made inappropriate comments regarding someone of Middle Eastern descent.

Brown could not be reached for comment, but his attorney, Michael Byrne of Raleigh, said Brown should be praised for his efforts to make sure that driver’s licenses do not go to illegal immigrants, or that people in the United States on visas do not get licenses that last beyond their sanctioned stays.

Instead, Byrne said Brown was punished by supervisors who did not like his raising questions about the residency status of customers.

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