Thread: Illegals' licenses will come up during session

Illegals' licenses will come up during session
daily-times.com
By Milan Simonich The Daily Times
Posted: 09/07/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT

SANTA FE — Democrats are starting to call her Gov. Gridlock.

They say Gov. Susana Martinez's intransigence stops progress and discourages the give and take that often comes with professional politics.

One of their examples is the law that allows state residents without proof of immigration status to obtain New Mexico driver's licenses.

A battle over the licensing law was fought last winter, and it will be renewed in the Legislature's special session.

State Sen. John Sapien, D-Corrales, says the divisive driver's license issue could have been resolved six months ago had Martinez been willing to compromise. She would not budge, saying the law should be repealed, not modified.

Senate Democrats proposed a fraud-fighting crackdown on licensing. It included fingerprinting and two-year renewals on driver's licenses issued to foreign nationals. Currently, most citizens receive New Mexico driver's licenses good for four or eight years.

The legislation Martinez wanted that would end licensing of illegal immigrants stalled in the Senate and then died.

Sapien said Martinez's rigid stand has everyone back where they started in January. The governor again will press to repeal the licensing law, facing off with Senate Democrats who have ample votes to stop her initiative.

For her part, Martinez has shown no interest in softening her stand.

She campaigned on repealing the law that allows illegal immigrants to receive New Mexico driver's licenses, saying it threatens border and national security.

"Ultimately, this public safety problem will not be fully resolved until the Legislature acts on the wishes of the public to overturn this law," Martinez said.

Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana, said she did not believe Martinez's attempt at a repeal could clear the Senate.

If that is how the issue plays out for a second time in 2011, New Mexico will remain one of three states that issues driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

Sapien said his frustration was that Senate Democrats offered legislation to make the licensing system more secure and eliminate the fraud problems that Martinez likes to talk about.

"People do not want an uncompromising government," Sapien said. "That is what we have in Washington, and it doesn't work."

He said Martinez would find it increasingly difficult to govern if she remains unwilling to compromise.

State Rep. Antonio Lujan represents a border district in Las Cruces. He says most of his constituents — perhaps 70 percent — favor the law allowing illegal immigrants to receive New Mexico driver's licenses.

"To me, it's also about public safety," Lujan said. "Those who have a driver's license can purchase insurance, at least liability insurance."

Sapien, who owns an insurance agency, agreed with Lujan.

He said striking the law would increase the number of uninsured drivers. He places that figure at 30 percent already.

Lujan, like the governor, is not interested in compromising on the licensing issue.

"Even if my constituents were not in favor of the law, I would not change it," he said.

Certain police agencies, including the Santa Fe police and sheriff's departments, favor licensing illegal immigrants. They say it puts more drivers in law enforcement's database, making it easier for police to track people.

Even so, a dozen states in the last 10 years have repealed immigrant licensing laws similar to New Mexico's. They included California, Oregon, North Carolina and Maryland.

Political backlash, administrative difficulties and fraud were some of the reasons licensing laws were stricken from the books.

Today, only New Mexico, Utah and Washington continue to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Most Democrats in the Legislature hope to keep it that way, setting up a showdown between them and Martinez.

Milan Simonich: msimonich@tnmnp.com

http://www.daily-times.com/ci_18840357

If that is how the issue plays out for a second time in 2011, New Mexico will remain one of three states that issues driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

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Bill Richardson stacked the deck in New Mexico with pro-amnesty Mexicans, knowing his many amnesty appointees he brought to power there would eventually have to defend their illegal positions on supporting illegal aliens.

"There are changing political times where our basic foundations and programs are being attacked, illegal and legal immigration are being unfairly attacked.

We have to band together, and that means Latinos in Florida, Cuban-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, South Americans, we have to network better - we have to be more politically minded, we have to put aside party and think of ourselves as Latinos, as Hispanics more than we have in the past."

Bill Richardson, New Mexico Governor, former U.S. Congressman, U.N. Ambassador, U.S. Sect'y of Energy interviewed on radio Latino USA responding to Congressional Immigration Reform legislation in 1996