Thread: Driver's license law repeal gaining traction across US

Driver's license law repeal gaining traction across US

By Milan Simonich Santa Fe Bureau
Posted: 02/12/2011 09:48:35 PM MST

SANTA FE - North Carolina granted a driver's license to a 24-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico. He moved to Maryland, got drunk on Thanksgiving night 2006, and then killed a young Marine and his girlfriend in a car crash.

Tennessee issued "certificates for driving" to undocumented immigrants. A state employee provided 40 certificates to unqualified applicants who lived outside the state, pocketing a $400 bribe each time.

Tragedy and scandal led to change in those states. The legislatures in North Carolina and Tennessee repealed the laws that provided driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.

In the last six years, lawmakers in Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Oregon and Wisconsin also overturned laws that enabled undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses.

New Mexico is one of three states that continues to grant driver's licenses to people without proof of their immigration status.

Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, trying to force a showdown on the issue with Democrats in the state Legislature, said the system is a disaster waiting to happen.

"As other states clamp down, New Mexico has become a haven for people looking to circumvent the law," Martinez said.

She wants the Legislature to approve a bill by Rep. Andy Nu-ez that would eliminate driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants.

Nu-ez, an independent from Hatch, voted with the majority to allow driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants in 2003, when he was a Democrat.

He said he was wrong then and wants to atone for the mistake.
Those in New Mexico who support driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants say the policy is a success story.

They reason that most undocumented immigrants work, pay taxes and are on the roads anyway. Granting them driver's licenses, proponents say, increases the number of motorists with auto insurance, making streets safer.

"This is a public-safety issue that was initiated by this body (the House of Representatives), and it has been effective," said Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque.

Rep. Ken Martinez, D-Grants, said those in the country illegally still deserve equal treatment.

"The Constitution of the United States says that all men are created equal - not all citizens," he said. "We have to consider balancing the needs of our police to protect us with the constitutional protection of the individual. Overstep that balance and you create a system of government that isn't just."

Garcia, Ken Martinez and three other Democrats last week voted to table a bill far milder than the one Nu-ez is proposing. It would have granted annual driving "permits" to people who have no proof of their immigration status. The permits could not have been used as government-issued identification, the way a driver's license is.

"Replacing driver's licenses for immigrants with ineffective driver's permits would take us back to the Stone Age, not to mention that it would increase insurance rates for all of us," Garcia said.

New Mexico has issued about 83,000 driver's licenses to foreign nationals. The state Division of Motor Vehicles does not track how many had visas and how many were in the country illegally.

They account for fewer than 5 percent of the 1.7 million people who have New Mexico driver's licenses, but present a risk to the whole country, Nu-ez said.

"They don't even stay in New Mexico. They use the licenses to go to Texas, Arizona, Colorado," he said.

A Democrat, Rep. Bill O'Neill of Albuquerque, announced Saturday that he would sponsor a bill similar to Nunez's.

O'Neill said his proposal would require applicants for a driver's license to have a Social Security number or an individual tax identification number to shut out undocumented immigrants. It also would mandate that applicants show a birth certificate or photo identification, such as a driver's license from another state.

Freshman Reps. Terry McMillan, R-Las Cruces, and Rick Little, R-Chaparral, stood with Gov. Martinez last week as she escalated her fight to outlaw driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants.

Gov. Martinez said she wanted voters to call legislators and demand the change, forcing them to be accountable to the people they are supposed to serve.

McMillan and Little said the people they represent in southern New Mexico overwhelming agree with the governor.

The tide against licensing people who are in the country illegally turned swiftly.

In 2005, 25 state legislatures considered bills to provide driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.

Eight states have since repealed licensing for undocumented immigrants. New Mexico, Utah and Washington now are the only states that provide driver's licenses to applicants who cannot prove their immigration status. Utah's is a permit for driving only, not a government-issued identification.

Gov. Martinez said people in every corner of Mexico want the licensing law repealed. She says granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants is not a partisan issue, but it is clear that Democrats in the Legislature stand in the way of her wishes and Nu-ez's proposal, HB 78.

Nu-ez said he can swing enough Democratic votes to win, if he can get his bill to a floor debate. Democrats, the majority party, control legislative committees. One of those could shelve Nu-ez's bill without it getting a full hearing. All five Democrats on the Labor and Human Resources Committee opposed the bill last week to replace licenses with permits. The four Republicans, including Little, tried to move it through.

But Nu-ez predicted he would prevail. "If you're not optimistic, you won't get anything done," he said.

Santa Fe Bureau Chief Milan Simonich can be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or (505) 820-6898. His blog is at http://elpasotimes.typepad.com/newmexico.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_17375031

They reason that most undocumented immigrants work, pay taxes and are on the roads anyway. Granting them driver's licenses, proponents say, increases the number of motorists with auto insurance, making streets safer.

This is not reason at all. Illegal aliens aren't supposed to be working in the United States stealing jobs from Americans. Illegal aliens don't pay income taxes and for those who file tax returns, they steal social security numbers, using fake documents and are filing solely to get 10 times what they might pay in Social Security tax through tax credit welfare and then they use the phony and fraudulent tax returns to sign up for benefits and services they aren't legally entitled to receive. Illegal aliens aren't supposed to be on our roads driving to jobs they stole from Americans or to the welfare office or hospital using the taxes Americans paid to fund service they use illegally. Drivers licenses have nothing to do with auto insurance. Car ownership and car registration have to do with auto insurance. Illegal aliens are just crowding roads with people who aren't supposed to be on our roads to begin with, they are not making them safer, they're creating traffic jams, congestion, accidents and fatalities that wouldn't otherwise exist.

Rep. Ken Martinez, D-Grants, said those in the country illegally still deserve equal treatment.

Rep. Martinez, you need to go... you're fired!

Gov. Martinez said she wanted voters to call legislators and demand the change, forcing them to be accountable to the people they are supposed to serve.

Thank you, Governor! You can bet I'll be on the phone during breaktimes tomorrow.

Originally Posted by nomas

Rep. Ken Martinez, D-Grants, said those in the country illegally still deserve equal treatment.

Rep. Martinez, you need to go... you're fired!

[quote:2srlleib]
Gov. Martinez said she wanted voters to call legislators and demand the change, forcing them to be accountable to the people they are supposed to serve.

Thank you, Governor! You can bet I'll be on the phone during breaktimes tomorrow.[/quote:2srlleib]

LINK to his web page:

http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/legdetails.a ... CODE=HMART

Pls send Rep. Martinez an email.

Originally Posted by nomas

Rep. Ken Martinez, D-Grants, said those in the country illegally still deserve equal treatment.

Rep. Martinez, you need to go... you're fired!

[quote:2nbxgbcy]
Gov. Martinez said she wanted voters to call legislators and demand the change, forcing them to be accountable to the people they are supposed to serve.

Thank you, Governor! You can bet I'll be on the phone during breaktimes tomorrow.[/quote:2nbxgbcy]

Right O, nomas! Representative Ken most certainly needs to go. "Equal protection" in the United States is "equal protection under the law". That means all illegal aliens are supposed to be deported without exception, bias or preference because that is the law which is supposed to applied equally to all under the 14th Amendment which means no exceptions for Latinos, no preference for Hispanics, no bias for anyone. If you are in our country illegally, no matter who you are or where you're from, you are supposed to be deported post haste, not given permission to drive to work or to the welfare office or to the hospital.

SANTA FE - North Carolina granted a driver's license to a 24-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico. He moved to Maryland, got drunk on Thanksgiving night 2006, and then killed a young Marine and his girlfriend in a car crash.

That type of action is increasing throughout America, but yet some of us Americans still support illegal immigration. Why do they, I wish I knew a truthful answer?

Only an insane person would agree to legalizing millions of undocumented criminals who's only mission is to destroy this Country far worst than they already have.

Granting them driver's licenses, proponents say, increases the number of motorists with auto insurance, making streets safer.

Yeah...the same way issuing gun permits to convicted felons makes the streets safer by educating them on the virtues of gun ownership!

Not buying it!

You either know how to drive or you don't. Having insurance does not make the streets safer it just means you are covered if they kill you in a car wreck. What really makes a safe driver is attitude.

Rep. Ken Martinez, D-Grants, said those in the country illegally still deserve equal treatment.

"The Constitution of the United States says that all men are created equal - not all citizens," he said. "We have to consider balancing the needs of our police to protect us with the constitutional protection of the individual. Overstep that balance and you create a system of government that isn't just."

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The above statement comes from the Declaration of Independence, not the U.S. Constitution. I don't believe there is anything in the constitution that states 'all men are created equal."

The title of this article is too funny.

Gaining traction?

It's more like on a down hill side of a roller coaster. 3 out of 50 states left is a pretty sure bet the slackers will follow.

Dixie