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 The legislatures in North Carolina and Tennessee repealed the laws that provided driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.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.

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