Thread: N.M. House passes bill to stop licensing illegal aliens

New Mexico House passes bill to stop licensing undocumented immigrants

by Milan Simonich \ Santa Fe Bureau
Posted: 03/04/2011 06:31:16 PM MST

SANTA FE - The House of Representatives tonight approved a bill that would prevent undocumented immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses.

The vote was 42-28.

Rep. Andy Nunez, an independent from Hatch, sponsored the bill. It now moves to the Senate.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_17540325

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New Mexico driver's license law final vote Friday

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1193360.html#1193360

House approves bill rescinding driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, 42-28
By Rob Nikolewski on March 4, 2011
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The blast worked.

A bill carried by Rep. Andy Nuñez (I-Hatch) that would rescind the state’s policy allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses successfully bypassed the committee process — a rarely used parliamentary procedure called “blasting a billâ€

Driver license bill advances
By Barry Massey
Associated Press
Posted: 03/04/2011 08:59:42 PM MST


SANTA FE — Bowing to political pressure from Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, the House approved a proposal on Friday to stop New Mexico from granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
The 42-28 vote by the House represented a victory for Martinez and a mostly Republican coalition in reviving legislation that had been bottled up by the Democratic-controlled House.

The bill goes to the Senate, where it faces difficulty. Senators rejected proposals last month to end the licensing policy implemented when Democrat Bill Richardson was governor.

The House-passed bill by Rep. Andy Nunez, a Hatch independent, will overturn a 2003 law that has allowed more than 80,000 driver's licenses to be issued to foreign nationals, including those living illegally in the country. State officials, however, say they don't know how many licenses went to illegal immigrants because people aren't asked for their immigration status when they apply for a license.

Eight Democrats joined with Nunez and the 33 Republicans in the House in supporting the legislation.

Martinez vowed during her gubernatorial campaign to repeal the licensing law and to cancel licenses already issued under its provisions. Nunez's bill, however, will not revoke existing licenses.

The legislation will prohibit the state from granting licenses to anyone living in the country illegally. However, it continues to allow foreign nationals in the country legally, such as students with visas, to get a license if they submit certain identification such as a passport.

Nunez and other supporters say public opinion polling has shown a majority of New Mexicans favor scrapping the state's license policy for illegal immigrants.

By issuing licenses, "we are sitting here aiding and abetting people that are breaking federal law," said Nunez, a conservative who switched his party affiliation from Democrat to independent earlier this year.

But House Majority Leader Ken Martinez, D-Grants, said polls shouldn't drive the Legislature's policy decisions. Many immigrants came to the U.S. legally, raised families and remained after the expiration of their immigration papers, he said.

"This is not a political issue and it's not an issue for campaign fodder. It's an issue to do the right thing for New Mexico. Let's make sure our roads are safe. Let's make sure people that drive on our roads are registered and let's make sure they are paying the insurance," said Martinez, the No. 2 Democratic leader.

Since taking office in January, the governor has pressured lawmakers to act on license legislation, rather than letting it languish in committees where proposals were bottled by Democrats and left to die when the session ends this month. She's used campaign money to pay for radio ads on the issue and legislators have been flooded with automated phone calls arranged by the GOP. The governor's staff videotaped Friday's debate in the House. The governor's website features footage from legislative hearings on issues advocated by her administration.

Several Democrats complained about the governor's tactics.

"The governor has stood up ... and waved her hands at the people and said, 'Let's take the driver's license away from this illegal immigrant. We aren't taking licenses away from illegal immigrants. We're taking licenses away from foreign nationals," said Rep. Eliseo Alcon, D-Milan. "But they're using the words 'illegal immigrant' because this is the way that we can make the boogeyman sound bad."

The governor and her supporters contend it's a security risk to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

But supporters of the policy say it's helped improve public safety, lessening fear among immigrants to cooperate with police in reporting crimes and has improved compliance with insurance requirements for motorists.

Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque, said he had received hateful messages over the legislation including one that described him as a traitor and said "we will not rest until you and your illegal friends are driven from our country."

"By denying driver's licenses to our foreign national immigrant community ... we give these fanatic extremists the upper hand in establishing the tone of our daily politics," said Garcia.

Maria Critina Lopez of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, an immigrant rights group, said, "Legislators' refusal to even consider a 'compromise' bill that attempted to address specific concerns about fraud show that this debate isn't about sound public policy, it's about politics and re-election campaigns," she said.

http://www.currentargus.com/ci_17543199

House vote denies licenses for illegals

Updated: Friday, 04 Mar 2011, 6:28 PM MST
Published : Friday, 04 Mar 2011, 4:58 PM MST

* Reporter: Katie Kim

SANTA FE (KRQE) - The New Mexico House voted late Friday to effectively deny drivers licenses for illegal immigrants reversing what had been state policy.

If approved in the Senate and signed into law, foreign nationals in the country legally still could apply for a New Mexico driver's license.


The 42-28 vote came shortly after 6 p.m. ending two days of debate that came only after Rep. Andy Nuñez, I-Hatch, successfully blasted his bill from a House committee where it had been tabled and brought it to the House floor.

From Earlier:

Five hours and counting as Friday's heated debate over the controversial practice of issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants continues on the floor of the New Mexico House.

And lawmakers are expecting it to be a long night on the second day of an exhausting debate. Friday's debate follows a six-hour debate on Thursday.

But the twist on Friday came when some Democrats introduced their own substitute bill that would continue issuing licenses to people without a Social Security number but would impose stricter penalties.

Shortly before 4 p.m., however, that measure was tabled on a 36-34 vote.

The original bill on the floor was introduced by Rep. Andy Nuñez of Hatch who began the 60-day session as a Democrat before becoming the body's lone Independent. Until Thursday it had been bottled up in committee before House members broke with tradition and voted to bring it directly to the floor.

His bill requires people to provide a valid Social Security number in order to apply for a New Mexico driver's license.

"Illegals coming over here are breaking federal law, and we as New Mexicans, if we give them driver's licenses, we're aiding and abetting people to break federal law," Nuñez said.

Majority Floor Leader Ken Martinez, D-Grants, proposed the now-tabled substitute that would require only other proof of identity and residency.

"We're a country of immigrants," Martinez said. "The more important thing to do in a time of economic downturn is create more jobs, employ more people."

As afternoon turned toward evening, no other substitute had been introduced although there was still time. The House had scheduled debate until 5:30 p.m., but at that time the wrangling continued.

If no other substitute bill is introduced, lawmakers will vote up or down on Nuñez's bill. If passed, it would then go to the Senate for further consideration.

The 60-day session of the Legislature ends at noon on Saturday, March 19.

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/politics/h ... t-licenses

NM House approves halting immigrant licenses

Posted at: 03/04/2011 8:51 AM | Updated at: 03/04/2011 7:14 PM
By: Barry Massey, The Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The House has approved a proposal sought by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez to stop New Mexico from granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

Legislation by Rep. Andy Nunez, a Hatch independent, will prohibit the state from granting licenses to anyone living in the country illegally. However, it will allow foreign nationals in the country legally, such students with visas, to get a license.

Opponents of the current law say there's a security risk in issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Supporters of the policy say it's helped improve public safety, lessening fear among immigrants to report crimes to police and improving compliance with motorist insurance requirements.

The legislation passed the House 42-28 on Friday, It goes to the Senate, which has rejected proposals to overturn the state's license policy.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S200 ... ml?cat=500

The bill goes to the Senate, where it faces difficulty.

The New Mexico Senate is made up of 15 Republicans and 27 Democrats.

Dixie

Originally Posted by Dixie

The bill goes to the Senate, where it faces difficulty.

The New Mexico Senate is made up of 15 Republicans and 27 Democrats.
Dixie

The New Mexico House is:
36 Democrats, 33 Republicans 1 Indepentent
The vote was 42-28.

the post refers to having a harder time in the STATE SENATE.
dixie was merely pointing out the party divide
im almost willing to bet some committee kills it before it can even come up for vote, if what ive seen taken place this year holds true

I was pointing out that there are 33 republicans and it got 42 votes.