Thread: NM House committee: Illegals Can still get Licenses

NM House committee: Undocumented immigrants can still get licenses
By Milan Simonich / Santa Fe Bureau
Posted: 02/19/2011 03:35:32 PM MST

SANTA FE - Three Democrats today stopped bills that would have ended New Mexico's practice of issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.

The House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee voted 3-2 to table, or block, different bills to stop licensing drivers who do not have proof of immigration status.

One bill by Rep. Andy Nunez of Hatch would have required a Social Security number or a valid visa to obtain a driver's license.

Nunez, the only independent in the House of Representatives, said the four-hour hearing was overtaken by an emotional crowd that focused on immigration. He said the only issue to him was public safety, and how it is compromised by the existing law.

"The people here illegally should not get driver's licenses," Nunez said. "Because of this decision, they will continue getting them."

Gov. Susana Martinez backed Nunez's proposal, HB 78.

The committee, also on a 3-2 vote, blocked a separate bill by Rep. David Chavez that would have allowed those in the country illegally to obtain one-year driver permits good only in New Mexico.

The permits would not have allowed recipients to drive in other states, nor would they have been valid as government-issued identification to board an airplane or enter a secure building, such as a federal courthouse.

Chavez, a Republican from Valencia, did not have the governor's support for his proposal, HB 401. Martinez's administration said his bill did not address the fundamental problem of people without proof of immigration status receiving driving privileges.

Albuquerque Democrats Moe Maestas, Gail Chasey and Bill O'Neill voted to block the bills.

Republicans Dennis Kintigh of Roswell and Thomas A. Anderson of Albuquerque voted against stopping the bills. They tried to move both measures out of committee, but were outvoted by the Democrats.

O'Neill also had a bill to tighten the licensing system. He withdrew it, at least for the short term, after Kintigh questioned how effective it could be.

Please see Sunday's edition for more details.

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_17432064

the illegal immigrant should not Have a driver's licenses at all
that the end of that In my book
No amnesty

At some point, don't NM residents lose the ability to board a ship or plane, with their driver's license ?

What's the next step or plan? Hopefully, the governor isn't going to let this slide without more of a fight. After all, this was a campaign promise.

It's a shame that a Democrat controlled five member committee can override the will of the people so easily.

CONSUMER & PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE:

http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/committeedis ... Code=HCPAC


Moe Maestas, Vice-Chair: http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/legdetails.a ... CODE=HMAES

Gail Chasey, Chair : http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/legdetails.a ... CODE=HCHAS

Bill ONeill: http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/legdetails.a ... CODE=HONEI

Thanks for the Info above James....

Dems block bill to stop illegal immigrants from obtaining a driver's license
Alamogordo Daily News
By Milan Simonich, Santa Fe Bureau
Posted: 02/19/2011 10:19:02 PM MST


SANTA FE - Gov. Susana Martinez lost a major battle Saturday, one that will allow illegal immigrants to continue obtaining New Mexico driver's licenses.

Martinez, a Republican, had pushed hard for repeal of the state law that allows people to obtain driver's licenses without proof of their immigration status.

Three Democrats on the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee derailed Martinez's agenda for change. They blocked a bill that would have required a Social Security number or proper immigration documents to qualify for a driver's license.

The two Republicans on the committee tried to move the bill forward, but were overruled in a party-line vote.

Martinez later said a handful of Democrats should not decide so important an issue. She called for an up-or-down vote of the entire Legislature on whether the driver's license law should be repealed.

"No more hiding behind unrecorded tabling motions in committee," Martinez said. "The public has a right to know where their legislators stand."

Rep. Andy Nunez, an independent from Hatch, sponsored the bill to stop granting driver's licenses to those in the country illegally.

He faced an emotional crowd of more than 120 people that jammed a hearing room for almost four hours of testimony. Nearly all of them said Nunez's bill was an attack on immigrants who do the back-breaking jobs that Americans will not.

Nunez said all the talk about immigration was a smokescreen, and that public safety was the only concern for him.

People in the country illegally know they can get a driver's license only in New Mexico or Washington state, Nunez said. The system weakens border security and attracts illegal immigrants from across the country, he said.

Santa Fe's sheriff, police chief and mayor spoke against Nunez's attempt to repeal the 2003 licensing law.

The sheriff, Robert Garcia, said Nunez had distorted the system by painting it in the worst possible light.

"Most people who come to this country are hard-working, law-abiding citizens," Garcia said.

Aric Wheeler, the Santa Fe police chief, said another advantage of granting the licenses is that his officers know with whom they are dealing in traffic stops. They also have a better means of tracking drunken drivers and those in accidents, Wheeler said.

Rep. Gail Chasey, a Democrat from Albuquerque and the committee chairwoman, said granting the licenses had led to more drivers obtaining auto insurance. She said 21 percent were uninsured before illegal immigrants could receive driver's licenses, and the number had fallen to 9 percent.

Nunez challenged her statistics. He said many who obtain New Mexico driver's licenses do so only to "legitimize themselves." Then they bolt the state with a form of government-issued identification that opens doors for them all across the country, he said.

The state Motor Vehicle Division said about 83,000 foreign nationals have received New Mexico licenses. It did not track how many were illegal immigrants.

In all, foreign nationals account for about 5 percent of the 1.7 million people who hold New Mexico driver's licenses.

Nunez questioned how such a small percentage of the driver population had succeeded in cutting the number of uninsured by more than half.

Demesia Padilla, secretary designee of the state Taxation and Revenue Department, said Nunez's bill would have moved New Mexico toward compliance with the federal Real ID Act. But because illegal immigrants can obtain New Mexico driver's licenses, state residents may someday need a passport to fly from one U.S. city to another, she said.

Alvan Romero, director of tax fraud investigations for the state, said the licensing system had created enforcement costs and untold headaches.

"There's so many schemes coming from so many different directions," Romero told the committee.

To legally obtain a New Mexico driver's license, an applicant must live in the state. Romero said people are trying to cheat that requirement, especially since eight other states recently stopped licensing illegal immigrants.

Just this week, Martinez's administration said, five illegal foreign nationals of East Indian descent were arrested in an attempt to get New Mexico licenses for other illegal immigrants at a charge of $6,000 apiece.

Poles, Costa Ricans, Chinese and Brazilians also have been arrested in attempts to defraud the state driver's license system, Romero said.

But Rep. Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque, said Nunez's bill to cancel driver's licenses of those in the country illegally could rob thousands of due process rights. He said they had bought the licenses, and their property could not simply be taken away.

Maestas also said he considered the state more secure because undocumented immigrants have driver's licenses. To obtain them, they had to pass written and driving tests.

Committee members, also on a 3-2 vote, blocked a separate bill by Rep. David Chavez that would have allowed those in the country illegally to obtain one-year driver permits.

Chavez said the permits would not have allowed recipients to drive in other states, nor would they have been valid as government-issued identification to board an airplane or enter a secure building, such as a federal courthouse. Utah has a similar driving permit system for undocumented immigrants.

Chavez, a Republican from Valencia, did not have the governor's support for his proposal, HB 401. Martinez considered it too weak.


How they voted

Those who voted to table, or block, HB 78, which would revoke driver's licenses of illegal immigrants: Rep. Gail Chasey, Moe Maestas and Bill O'Neill, all Democrats from Albuquerque.

Those who voted not to stop the bill: Rep. Dennis Kintigh, R-Roswell, and Rep. Thomas A. Anderson, R-Albuquerque.

http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_17432343

Related thread--

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-228761.html

Lawmakers missed boat on driver's license bill
Alamogordo Daily News
Daily News Editorial
Posted: 02/20/2011 12:00:00 AM MST


It's apparent that a few members of our state Legislature didn't pay attention to voters' calls for better representation during the November general election.

Three Democrats all from Albuquerque stopped bills Saturday that would have put an end to the state's outdated practice of issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.

The three Democrats who voted to stop the bill from progressing through the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee are Moe Maestas, Gail Chasey and Bill O'Neill.

The trio also voted to block different bills to stop licensing drivers who do not have proof of immigration status. One of the bills proposed, by Rep. Andy Nu ez, an independent from Hatch, would have required a Social Security number or a valid visa to obtain a state driver's license.

Because these three Democrats seem clueless as to what New Mexicans overwhelmingly want a repeal of the 2003 law that made it legal for illegals to get a driver's license here is some food for thought:

• State police last year arrested several Chinese nationals after they paid a man $500 for forged documents that claimed they were residents of New Mexico. Two more Chinese nationals were apprehended in a separate incident involving the sale of fake residency documents.

• Last September, a Costa Rican and a Brazilian were charged with various counts of forgery and conspiracy. The Costa Rican was accused of using fake lease agreements to get New Mexico driver's licenses for an unknown number of other Costa Rican nationals, while the Brazilian national allegedly paid $3,000 to get licenses for an unknown number of his fellow countrymen.

• An Illinois man last July was arrested for helping about 13,000 Polish immigrants get driver's licenses in Albuquerque.

And those are only cases that have been reported in the media.

State officials say it's not easy to obtain a New Mexico driver's license, but we disagree. People only need to produce two proofs of identification and two proofs of New Mexico residency usually a utility bill or a bank statement.

State legislators first passed the current law in 2003 to allow immigrants, who are in the country legally, to obtain a state driver's license. It was framed at the time as a traffic safety issue. Proponents argued that those immigrants would likely drive, regardless of whether or not they had a license. They also argued that granting them a license would increase insurance rates and make it easier for law enforcement making a traffic stop or responding to an accident.

That was eight years ago. Times have changed. National security issues are at stake. And as for the insurance issue, New Mexico still ranks as having the highest rate of uninsured drivers in the nation.

New Mexico is one of three states that allow illegal immigrants to obtain a state driver's license; the other two are Utah and Washington.

Our state's driver's license fiasco also puts us at odds with the federal government's Real ID Act, which mandates that certain security and information features be incorporated into each card. It also mandates that the Motor Vehicle Division institute security standards for issuing licenses, be able to verify the source of documents provided by an applicant, and verify proof of identity and the lawful status of that applicant.

If the state doesn't get a better handle on how it issues driver's licenses and state identification, New Mexicans may be barred from boarding airplanes and denied access to federal buildings.

This law must be repealed, but it apparently won't happen this year. We have Maestas, Chasey and O'Neill to thank for that.

More people are flocking to New Mexico ... and it isn't for our breathtaking landscapes, tourist attractions or our famous green chile.

www.alamogordonews.com

Martinez later said a handful of Democrats should not decide so important an issue. She called for an up-or-down vote of the entire Legislature on whether the driver's license law should be repealed.

"No more hiding behind unrecorded tabling motions in committee," Martinez said. "The public has a right to know where their legislators stand."

Ditto that!