ShareNM House panel to resume immigrant license debate
Barry MasseyLawmakers face a politically difficult decision on whether to retain New Mexico's policy of granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, and the issue will resurface later this year in the re-election campaigns of members of the Legislature.
The House Judiciary Committee is to consider competing license proposals at a meeting Friday. The panel's decisions will set the stage for a debate in the 70-member House, which last year approved a bill backed by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez to stop issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Eight Democrats, including the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and one independent joined Republicans last year in support of the governor's proposal, which died later in the Senate.
This year, Democrats supporting the current license law have aggressively pushed an alternative to the governor's plan _ a move they hope will potentially insulate some of their members from expected campaign attacks on the issue. The proposal continues to allow driver's licenses for illegal immigrants but imposes new restrictions, including fingerprinting of applicants and a six-month residency requirement.
Democrats describe it as a compromise that will crack down on the license fraud that Martinez alleges is widespread in the current system. The proposal resembles a measure the Senate approved last year but is opposed by the Martinez administration. It restricts immigrant licenses to two years and will cancel previously issued licenses unless those are renewed within two years. Currently, a New Mexico driver's license lasts four or eight years.
New Mexico and Washington are the only states that grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and others without a Social Security number. Utah issues a special permit allowing immigrants to drive but, unlike a driver's license, it doesn't serve as a widely accepted government-issued form of identification.
More than 90,000 licenses have been issued to foreign nationals in New Mexico since 2003 when the state eliminated the requirement for license applicants to have a Social Security number.
The governor says it's a public safety risk to issue licenses to illegal immigrants, and administration officials contend New Mexico is a magnet for immigrants to get a license and then leave. The administration tried last year to force immigrants with licenses to recertify their residency in New Mexico, but a lawsuit halted the program.
Supporters of the current law say it's a practical approach for confronting a broader immigration problem and deals with the reality that some of the people working and raising families in New Mexico are illegally in the country. Without a license, those immigrants can't legally drive to their jobs or transport their children to school and doctor's appointments.
The chief of the Santa Fe police has been a lone voice among law enforcement by testifying in support for the license law, saying it makes it less likely that immigrant driver's will leave the scene of an accident or fear to cooperate with police in reporting crimes.
Democrats openly acknowledge the volatile politics of the immigrant license dispute. Rep. Brian Egolf, a Santa Fe Democrat, told Judiciary Committee members earlier this week that "campaigns are locked and loaded" to use the issue in upcoming elections.
Rep. Al Park of Albuquerque, the committee chairman, said voters in his Albuquerque district overwhelmingly oppose New Mexico's immigrant license policy and "I will have no choice but to adhere to the will of my constituents" by voting on the House floor to repeal the law.
Democrats hold a narrow 36-33 edge in the House, and there's one independent. Democrats hold a stronger 28-14 majority in the Senate.
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