Gov. Martinez's office comments on judge's immigration plan ruling
kob.com
Posted at: 09/13/2011 7:57 AM
Updated at: 09/13/2011 1:37 PM

A Santa Fe judge has extended a restraining order against New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez over her plan to force foreign nationals with driver’s licenses to prove their residency.

Today District Judge Sarah Singleton found that there was enough reason to keep temporarily stopping the administration from ordering foreign nationals who currently have New Mexico licenses to meet with state officials to prove they are legal residents of the state.

Singleton had issued her initial temporary restraining order on Sept. 1, in response to a suit from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund that claimed the Governors action was unconstitutional.

But Singleton also said today that the state should be allowed to continue to investigate license fraud.

The New Mexico Legislature passed the law allowing undocumented immigrants to legally obtain licenses in 2002. Today’s court action was just the latest move in Gov. Martinez’s long battle to repeal or otherwise block that law.

After the ruling Tuesday, Gov. Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell issued this statement:

“The Court’s ruling acknowledges that serious cases of potential fraud have been uncovered as a result of the residency certification program, and that these cases deserve a thorough investigation. Roughly one-third of the letters sent out were returned undeliverable, with many indicating that the address used to obtain their driver’s license didn’t even exist and the addresses of some homes or businesses had been stolen so that someone who never lived there could grab a license.

The Court will continue to look at the certification program in general, but the Governor is as committed as ever to ensuring that she keeps New Mexicans safe, and until the law that grants driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants is repealed, that includes doing whatever she can to prevent non-residents from traveling to our state or trafficking others to fraudulently obtain a New Mexico driver’s license.â€