Thread: Immigrants rights group battles Gov. Martinez over drivers license law for illegals

KFOXTV.com
By Samantha Manning

(VIDEO AT SOURCE)

LAS CRUCES, N.M. —

Immigration rights or public safety -- that's the question at the center of the controversy surrounding New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez's efforts to end a law allowing undocumented immigrants to drive.

Las Cruces residents Angelica and Albert Leno worry that repealing the law would leave their family unable to get by because Angelica is the only driver and she is undocumented.

Angelica Leno drives to work where she cleans homes, drives to pick up their son from school because there is not an available bus and drives her husband to the doctor.

Albert Leno is wheelchair-bound and is unable to drive.

"I don't have a driver's license because I'm physically handicapped and my wife drives me around," Albert Leno said.

Gov. Susana Martinez is trying for a third time to repeal a law allowing undocumented immigrants to drive legally in the state.

"The desire of New Mexicans is clear and it's time to vote to repeal the law," Martinez said during her State of the State Address in January.

Martinez told KFOX14 that she plans to keep trying to repeal the law as long as she has to -- but hopes this time will be the last.

"People will come up to me constantly and say don't give up," Martinez said. "Don't stop fighting for the repeal of that law."

Immigrant rights groups like the Border Network for Human Rights, to which the Lenos belong, have been fighting back against the governor's efforts the whole way and like the governor, they said they don't plan to back down on the issue.

"I feel like the governor has done a very good public relations job to convince people there's some sort of problem, systemic problem," BNHR Policy Director Jose Manuel Escobedo said.

New Mexico is one of only two states that currently allows undocumented immigrants to receive a government issued driver's license.

Martinez said that the problem with the law has always been about safety and nothing else.

"It's a public safety issue, not an immigration issue," Martinez said.

Albert Leno said that repealing the law would leave more drivers on the road without insurance and without valid drivers licenses.

"Why try to fix something that's not broken?" Albert Leno said.

Immigrant rights groups said that Martinez's actions are hypocritical because her own grandparents were Mexican immigrants.

"My grandfather came here with permission with the Department of Labor to come to work," Martinez said. "So, I don't see that as hypocrisy. He followed the rules and following the rules is all we're asking people to do."

Source: Immigrants rights group battles Gov. Martinez over drivers... | www.kfoxtv.com

Immigration rights or public safety

Public safety includes getting illegals off the road.