Thread: N.M.: Gov. hopefuls draw hard line on immigrant license issu

Gov. hopefuls draw hard line on immigrant license issue
Kate Nash | The New Mexican
Posted: Friday, October 08, 2010

State policies regarding immigrants could change next year, no matter who wins New Mexico's contest for governor next month.

Both Republican Susana Martinez and Democrat Diane Denish say they want to do away with a state law that allows undocumented immigrants to get New Mexico driver's licenses.

Also, both would punish employers who knowingly hire immigrants without proper papers.

When each candidate was asked about other specific measures they would take as governor, Martinez said she would rescind an executive order that prevents state police officers from determining the immigration status of individuals placed in custody.

Denish, however, didn't specify any other action she would take, saying she wants immigration reform dealt with at the federal level. "State-specific policies create a checkerboard of inequality that is unacceptable," she said.

The candidates have vastly different experience with immigration. Martinez, who grew up near the Mexican border, has dealt with the issue extensively as the district attorney in Doña Ana County, a post to which she was first elected in 1996. In a recent interview, she said she faces immigration-related challenges in her Southern New Mexico office every day.

"We prosecute an awful lot of individuals who come to our country who their only intent is to commit criminal acts," she said. "My focus has always been on the illegal immigrants who come here with the purpose of committing criminal acts."

When asked in a questionnaire what percentage of crimes are committed by undocumented immigrants, she said about half the inmate population in Doña Ana County jails are illegal immigrants. She also said that data on how many criminals are immigrants are hard to obtain "since criminal elements are in the business of avoiding being counted for statistical purposes."

Martinez's great-grandparents on both sides are from Mexico. Denish's family has been in the United States at least four generations, counting hers, she recently said.

As lieutenant governor, Denish has not dealt with the issue as much as Martinez. She said she is a "strong supporter of federal comprehensive reform."

She said she was the first elected official in New Mexico to speak out against a measure adopted this summer in Arizona that opponents say could lead to racial profiling and the wrongful detention of U.S. citizens.

"We need to approach this issue in a humane way, not like my opponent with her angry, divisive rhetoric," Denish said. "She seeks to villianize all immigrants and continue a culture of fear. I recognize that many immigrants are here to work, help their families and then go back home."

Both campaigns have aired television ads in Spanish, although Martinez is the only one of the two who speaks in Spanish.

The Denish ad in Spanish seeks to paint Martinez as someone who would take away jobs, give public money to private schools and allow more home foreclosures. The Denish ad also pledges that she will reduce class sizes in schools.

In Martinez's Spanish-language TV spot, she talks about her work on a case involving a murdered baby and says her work as a prosecutor is to defend innocent victims. It doesn't specifically mention her stance on immigration. She does say she keeps a photo of the baby, Brianna Lopez, in her office to remind her that work has to be done every day to keep our community safe. While she talks about securing the community, the video shows her near the U.S.-Mexico border with a law enforcement officer.

An English-language ad for Martinez focuses on her opposition to driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants, and her work against drug cartels. In that video, she stands near the U.S.-Mexico border and says, "When crime spills over, I prosecute."

Martinez said her message is the same in both languages and that she has done interviews with Spanish-language media in which she has communicated her message on border security.

While the topic of immigration has become more prominent in part because of the debate in Arizona, it's not the top concern for many voters in the state, said University of New Mexico political-science professor Christine Sierra.

She said one recent study found that immigration had moved up on the list of concerns for many New Mexicans, but was still less important than the economy.

"Immigration as a mobilizing issue has not been that strong in New Mexico when compared to other states," she said.

That said, opposition to driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants is firm among many potential voters, according to a recent Albuquerque Journal poll.

According to the poll, done in August, 72 percent of those surveyed said they oppose the policy. Just 20 percent supported the law, and 6 percent had mixed feelings about it while 2 percent didn't know or wouldn't say.

Among immigrants, however, access to licenses is popular, research by the Associated Press found.

New Mexico issued 10,257 licenses to immigrants through the first six months of 2010, compared with 13,481 for all of 2009, the Associated Press reported. The pace at which licenses have been issued has intensified since April, when the Arizona law passed.

The poll also found that 53 percent of respondents favor the Arizona law, while 35 percent disapprove, 7 percent have mixed feelings and 5 percent don't know or wouldn't say.

Whichever New Mexico candidate is elected governor also must deal with the Legislature, which in the past hasn't been overly willing to make immigration-related changes to state law, save the driver's license policy change in 2003. The makeup of the state House and Senate could change, however, with the Nov. 2 general election.

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Gov. hopefuls draw hard line on immigrant license issue
Kate Nash | The New Mexican
Posted: Friday, October 08, 2010

State policies regarding immigrants could change next year, no matter who wins New Mexico's contest for governor next month.

Both Republican Susana Martinez and Democrat Diane Denish say they want to do away with a state law that allows undocumented immigrants to get New Mexico driver's licenses.

In the latest poll "anti-immigrant" (and Hispanic to boot!) Martinez is leading Denish 51% to 41%. Why isn't this ever reported in the press, incuding this article? http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... o_governor