[marstegreg]

Ten thousand randomly selected foreign nationals with New Mexico driver’s licenses

Didn’t they have to prove residency to get the license to begin with?

[CedarDave]

Besides a birth certificate, all they had to show was something showing a name and address such as a utility bill and maybe a consular card from Mexico for Mexicans. No proof of immigration status was required. There was a bunch of fraud with immigrants from other states (not necessarily Mexicans -- Poles and Chinese for example) getting licenses. Requirements tightened up last year -- all documents need to be verified and that could take up to 45 days. But for earlier licenses not much scrutiny was given. From an earlier ABQ Journal article:

... U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and state Taxation and Revenue investigators have made similar arrests involving undocumented immigrants from Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador and Guatemala. Most of those arrested came from Georgia, Florida, New York and Illinois, all of which require proof of immigration status.

Read more: ABQJOURNAL NEWS/STATE: Poles Coming to N.M. for Licenses http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/302342478552newsstate07-30-10.htm