Thread: N.M. Illegal aliens must be fingerprinted to obtain licenses

NM State Senate: Undocumented immigrants must be fingerprinted to obtain license

By Milan Simonich / Santa Fe Bureau
Posted: 03/10/2011 07:53:47 AM MST

SANTA FE - Undocumented immigrants would have to be fingerprinted to obtain a New Mexico driver's license under a bill that state senators approved late Wednesday.
The measure is at odds with a House bill that would prohibit people without proof of immigration status from receiving driver's licenses.

Whether a committee of legislators from the two bodies can resolve the differences is an open question for the last nine days of the session.

So confusing were the debate and amendments to the licensing bill that Sen. Kent Cravens, R-Albuquerque, said they had become unintelligible.

"I don't even know what this bill does anymore," he said as the clock approached midnight.

Along with requiring fingerprinting of those who cannot prove they have a right to be in America, the bill would mandate that they renew their driver's licenses every two years. New Mexico licenses now last for four to eight years.
Undocumented immigrants also would have to prove that they have lived in New Mexico for six months to qualify for a driver's license. The current law that allows undocumented immigrants to receive licenses has no provision on length of residency.

The House bill, by independent Rep. Andy Nunez of Hatch, is more simple. It would bar anyone without proof of immigration status from obtaining a New Mexico driver's license.

Nunez said people who are in the country illegally "legitimize themselves" by getting New Mexico licenses, then use them to move about the country. Republican Gov. Susana Martinez backed his bill, saying the existing system endangers border and national security.
Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque, tried to move Nunez's bill to the full Senate on Wednesday night, a day after a legislative committee weakened it. Democrats, though, banded together to stop Nunez's bill.

The Senate vote against accepting Nunez's proposal was 24-17. All of those who opposed it were Democrats.

Fifteen Republicans and two Democrats backed Nunez's measure to stop licensing those in the country illegally.

The Democrats who broke ranks to oppose licenses for undocumented immigrants were John Arthur Smith of Deming and Tim Eichenberg of Albuquerque.

Various Senate Democrats said the proposal to restrict immigrant licenses was race-based and entirely political.

"This is basically a bill that is very biased against Mexican nationals," said Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Espanola.

Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, D-Dona Ana, agreed with him. She said Gov. Martinez had pushed for the driver's license crackdown as "a gotcha issue" intended for political gain.

After stopping Nunez's bill, Democrats pushed through the proposal requiring fingerprinting and a six-month residency in the state before an undocumented immigrant could obtain a driver's license.

That vote was 25-16. Smith was the only Democrat to oppose it.

Sen. Tim Jennings, R-Roswell, also got through an amendment that guarantees that those in the armed forces can qualify for New Mexico licenses if they are stationed in the state.

Republicans howled at Jennings' attempt to help U.S. soldiers "qualify" for driver's licenses. They said everybody in the U.S. military has a Social Security number and already can obtain a New Mexico license.

The debate turned ugly after that.

Sen. Eric Griego, D-Albuquerque, referred to coverage of the licensing issue on Albuquerque radio station "KKK-OB" - a swipe implying it was racist, as is the Ku Klux Klan.

This brought a rebuttal from Republican Sen. Rod Adair of Roswell.

Fuming, Adair took the floor and said Griego neither had a sense of history nor did he care about it. Adair said the Klan in its heyday murdered some 5,000 Republicans, and that Griego had trivialized its crimes.

New Mexico has granted driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants since 2003. They must provide a taxpayer identification number, a birth certificate from their home country and, in applicable cases, their national identification card from Mexico.

Sen. Richard Martinez said the law had made New Mexico roads safer because these undocumented immigrants were able to purchase vehicle insurance once they had licenses to drive.

About 83,000 foreign nationals have obtained New Mexico driver's licenses. The state does not track how many had proper immigration documents and how many did not. Overall, about 1.7 million people have New Mexico driver's licenses.

Forty-seven states require proof of immigration status to get a driver's license. New Mexico, Utah and Washington are the exceptions.

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

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_17574749

No way! How about having ICE finger print while processing illegals for deportation.

No licenses for illegal aliens. No taxpayer resources at all.

W

This still isn't over.
If they can't resolve the differences between house and senate in the next 9 days I guess things just stay the same as before this all started.

The measure is at odds with a House bill that would prohibit people without proof of immigration status from receiving driver's licenses.

Whether a committee of legislators from the two bodies can resolve the differences is an open question for the last nine days of the session.

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New Mexico lawmakers at odds over immigrant drivers

By Zelie Pollon Zelie Pollon – 1 hr 49 mins ago

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) – The New Mexico state Senate rejected a proposal that would have outlawed driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, a change that the new Republican governor has pushed since taking office.

Instead, the Senate late on Wednesday night passed a measure to maintain driving privileges for illegal immigrants while imposing tougher penalties for falsified documentation and requiring them to reapply for a license every two years.

The Senate bill, approved after four hours of debate on a vote of 25 to 16, with just one Democrat joining the Republican minority, also increases the residency requirement for any foreign national seeking a driver's license from three months to six months.

The New Mexico House last week passed a proposal to bar undocumented immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses altogether, with eight Democrats and one independent joining 33 Republicans to support the measure.

Governor Susana Martinez, a former prosecutor of Mexican-American descent who made a crackdown on illegal immigration a centerpiece of her campaign last fall, lashed out at Senate Democrats for rejecting the tougher measure.

[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]


"It is unfortunate that the Senate Democratic leadership rejected a bi-partisan compromise to repeal the law giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants," she said in a statement on Thursday. "I promised the people of New Mexico that I will fight to repeal this law and that fight will continue."

Senator Eric Griego, a Democrat, said his party "bent over backwards" to address the governor's concerns. "If it's really about toughening the current law, then we did it," he said.

New Mexico is one three states, also including Utah and Washington, that allow undocumented immigrants to lawfully obtain driver's licenses. The other states bordering Mexico -- Arizona, California and Texas -- do not allow it.

While Martinez's stance irks many Hispanics, who account for 45 percent of New Mexico's population of about 2 million, conservatives in the Latino community have supported her. Some 83,000 foreign nationals hold drivers licenses in the state.

Some law enforcement officials oppose repeal, arguing that to revoke driving privileges of illegal immigrants will mean having tens of thousands of motorists on the road without a license or insurance.

Griego said he doubted the Senate-passed version of the measure would win House support, meaning the two bodies will need to negotiate a compromise in order to get a bill to the governor's desk

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110310/pl_ ... co_drivers