Lawmakers Should Vote on License Reform (NM-Martinez vs. Dems)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | February 27, 2011 | ABQ Journal Editorial staff

[CedarDave]

New Mexico's legislative Democrats are busy dialing up controversy over Republican Gov. Susana Martinez' use of robocalls to voters in her effort to get an up-or-down vote on issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

Lawmakers should try dialing up Illinois, Georgia, Florida or New York instead. In recent months people have been charged with bringing over immigrants who are living in those states, which do not provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, to New Mexico.

Or they could take an extra step and punch in a foreign area code to call Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Poland or Russia. In recent months people have been charged with bringing citizens of those countries to the Land of Enchantment.

Smugglers have made traveling to New Mexico a cottage industry in their quest to obtain state-of-the-art government IDs for illegal immigrants. ...

~~snip~~

New Mexico lawmakers like Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, contend that "this is not a system that is causing problems. It's a system that is preventing problems."

Apparently it's not a problem for the state to violate federal law.

Martinez is pushing aggressively for a vote on this issue in part because she understands it's what most voters want; a recent poll found 72 percent oppose the state's current policy.

Legislative Democrats would be wise to heed that sentiment.

[CedarDave]

She is butting heads with legislative cronies of Richardson who pushed for and got them to pass legislation giving illegals licenses. Success may not come this year but in 2012 when all of the NM House and Senate members are up for re-election.

[CedarDave]

NM list PING! Click on the flag to go to the Free Republic New Mexico message page.

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[Frantzie]

Where are the other states like FL, TX, GA to name a few.

[HiJinx]

Ping!

[Brad from Tennessee]

[Where are the other states like FL, TX, GA to name a few.]

Tennessee had a short-lived experiment with illegal alien drivers licenses. It was a disaster. There was a high rate of DUI’s, uninsured accidents, and the use of these ID’s in all manner of fraud. The legislature stepped in and stopped this program which I think was enacted by executive order. As the article points out, any state that issues these licenses can expect an influx of illegals.