Thread: MALDEF suit seeks end to driver's license scrutiny

MALDEF suit seeks end to driver's license scrutiny
By Milan Simonich
Texas-New Mexico Newspapers
Posted: 08/25/2011 12:14:30 AM MDT

SANTA FE - Should people who met every legal requirement to obtain a New Mexico driver's license be subjected to proving their residency to the governor's staff?

A national civil rights group on Wednesday said the answer to that question is a resounding no, and that Gov. Susana Martinez had overstepped her authority in creating a residency certification program for up to 10,000 foreign nationals.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund sued Martinez's administration in state District Court, seeking to end a state program in which foreign nationals must travel to Albuquerque or Las Cruces to verify that they are residents of New Mexico.

David Urias, an Albuquerque attorney assisting MALDEF in the lawsuit, said Martinez had violated the constitutional protections of New Mexico residents and created a program that should have been subject to the Legislature's approval.

He said Martinez was discriminating against license holders on the basis of where they were born, something appeals courts had ruled unconstitutional.

Martinez's press secretary, Scott Darnell, countered that the court action was contrary to what New Mexicans want.

"This is a lawsuit by an out-of-state group that is trying to stop the state's efforts to confront the identity theft and fraud that exists due to the issuance of driver's licenses to illegal immigrants," he said.

Four New Mexico legislators and one legal immigrant, Marisela Morales, are petitioners in the lawsuit. They are challenging the power of the state to summon people to residency certification centers overseen by the state Motor Vehicle Division.

Morales is the sister-in-law of state Sen. Howie Morales, D-Silver City. Howie Morales is one of the legislators suing the governor's administration.

"I guess this made it a little more personal," he said of what he considers harassment of his sister-in-law.

He said Marisela Morales, properly licensed and legally in the country, ignored the government command that she appear at a center to prove her residency.

Another of the legislators in the lawsuit, Rep. Eliseo Alcon, D-Milan, attacked Martinez's character during and after a news conference outside the State Capitol.

"She has no heart," Alcon said.

Earlier, he told a crowd of about 110 people that if Martinez saw one of them helpless on the ground, she would kick that person in the kidney "just because she can."

A dozen other states have repealed laws that allowed illegal immigrants to receive driver's licenses, citing fraud and administrative headaches as the reasons. But Alcon said New Mexico is different from most places because public transportation is scarce. The licensing system allows workers to drive to their jobs, support their families and pay their taxes, he said.

Martinez's staff said New Mexico's system of licensing illegal immigrants had made it a magnet for con artists and duplicity.

"In the absence of the Legislature acting to put an end to this dangerous program, the governor has the responsibility to identify and attempt to curb the fraud that is inherent in it," Darnell said.

He said the residency certification process had revealed more attempts at defrauding the state, many of them successful.

"We've seen the case of an illegal immigrant who used KRQE's television station address as his place of residence to receive a New Mexico driver's license. Where is this individual today? " Darnell asked.

"And envelopes have poured in with messages from homeowners who say that they've lived at their address for years - over 50 years in the case of one Albuquerque man - and yet they've received certification letters addressed to illegal immigrants who had stolen their address for a driver's license application."

During the legislative session last winter, Martinez lost an attempt to repeal the licensing law. But Democrats who opposed her, notably Sen. Tim Jennings of Roswell, said Martinez was free to take administrative steps to tighten the system.

Martinez said her residency certification program was just such an action to assess how much fraud had occurred and how best to combat it.

The lawsuit has been assigned to state District Judge Ray Ortiz of Santa Fe. MALDEF is seeking an immediate restraining order to halt residency certifications and overturn any administrative actions to cancel driver's licenses. MALDEF also wants a hearing in which it would argue for a permanent end to the program.

Santa Fe Bureau Chief Milan Simonich can be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or 505-820-6898. His blog is at nmcapitolreport.com.

The litigants

•MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, sued Gov. Susana Martinez's administration on Wednesday. It specifically named Demesia Padilla, secretary of taxation and revenue. Her department is overseeing residency checks of foreign nationals who have New Mexico driver's licenses.

•Four state legislators and one legal immigrant are part of the suit aimed at halting the residency verification program. The legislators are Reps. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque, and Eliseo Alcon, D-Milan; and Sens. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, and Howie Morales, D-Silver City. Morales' sister-in-law, Marisela Morales, a legal permanent resident who was instructed to appear at a residency center, is the private citizen who is part of the suit.

The numbers from

the governor

•Gov. Susana Martinez's administration mailed 10,000 letters to foreign national license holders and told them to appear at centers for residency verification.

•A total of 31.5 percent of those letters have been returned as undeliverable for various reasons.

•For 248 who had a New Mexico forwarding address, a new letter has been mailed to them. "In addition, the department is searching for alternative addresses and phone numbers for those who have either not responded to the letter they received or whose letter was returned undeliverable. We are doing our due diligence to attempt to reach these individuals in a variety of ways," said Scott Darnell, Martinez's press secretary.

•To date, 2,497 appointments have been scheduled and 2,129 have been held.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_18753460?s ... ost_viewed

They are not going to get anywhere with that. Too many other states have implemented it and it's met court challenges.

Dixie