Thread: N.M. Governor's race re-ignites driver's license debate

Governor's race re-ignites driver's license debate

Across the board, candidates say change needed to law allowing undocumented immigrants to get state IDs

Kate Nash | The New Mexican
Posted: Saturday, May 29, 2010

The number of immigrants getting New Mexico driver's licenses has increased in recent years, but that could change after this year's gubernatorial race.

Some 79,000 foreign nationals have New Mexico licenses, making up 4.4 percent of the 1.78 million licenses issued in the state, according to the Motor Vehicle Division.

All five Republicans running for the state's top post have said they would no longer allow undocumented immigrants to get licenses. And Lt. Gov. Diane Denish's campaign this week said she "does not support licenses for illegal immigrants."

"Based on evidence that suggests the law has not worked as intended, the law needs to change," Denish said in a statement.

Her campaign said she would make several changes to the current law and work to "close loopholes that allow scam artists to fraudulently attempt to get IDs," and "tighten up documentation requirements, but work to make sure legal immigrants and foreign residents who are here legally (people with green cards/visas) can get licenses."

Any change would take the agreement of the Legislature. Since 2003, New Mexico has issued licenses to immigrants and accepts a taxpayer identification number instead of a Social Security number. It also accepts Mexican-issued identification cards known as the matricula consular as one form of ID. The state works with the Mexican government to confirm the veracity of the matriculas, and has real-time access to Mexican databases.

State officials in past weeks have warned about "a criminal enterprise" that is using the residential addresses of unsuspecting victims "to create false documents and obtain driver's licenses for foreign nationals."

At the same time, MVD Director Michael Sandoval said this week that just a small percent of denied license applications are rejected because of problems with residency documents.

"For the most part, people are who they say they are and their source identification documents are accurate," he said.

The number of immigrant licenses has increased since the division implemented tougher standards for getting licenses.

The state in 2008 began issuing licenses from a central processing company in Washington state instead of making them on-site at MVD offices. In addition, the state that year began additional steps to verify the documents that applicants present when applying for a license.

In the two years leading up to the change, the state issued 20,500 first-time licenses to foreign nationals, Sandoval said. In the two years since, it issued about 26,000. Between 75 and 80 immigrants apply each day for a license, he said.

Supporters say the law has dropped the state's uninsured driver rates and gets more people familiar with the rules of the road. Critics say immigrants can fraudulently obtain a valid form of U.S. identification and that the law has attracted illegal immigration here.

Only a handful of states issue licenses to immigrants. Cities including San Francisco and Trenton, N.J., issue their own identification cards.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at www.greenchilechatter.com.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local% ... nse-debate

Since 2003, New Mexico has issued licenses to immigrants and accepts a taxpayer identification number instead of a Social Security number. It also accepts Mexican-issued identification cards known as the matricula consular as one form of ID. The state works with the Mexican government to confirm the veracity of the matriculas, and has real-time access to Mexican databases.

Can you imagine all the fraud connected to this system?

ah hahah look at new mexico cower in fear as the human wave apporaches ...MANY of our illegals from arizona have heard GOOD things about new mexico and are now moving there by the bus load ...

oh please oh please don't change your drivers license laws new mexico ... i want to sit here and laugh as your hosptials are forced to close and as your schools become over crowded ...

Thats why SB1070 won't recognize any drivers licenses from states that issue with no proof of citizenship or legal status;ie. greencards/visa.

In my opinion somebody here on a visa should have their license set to expire on the same date as their visa so they don't overstay their visa and have a valid drivers license.

The Mexican Consular ID's are a joke and local police don't have realtime access to their database. At least the police dispatchers don't in Phoenix and other cities. Not sure if Arizona DMV does.