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SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Illegal immigrants will no longer have to fear losing their vehicles during routine traffic stops if a bill passed by the Assembly becomes law.

After winning passage of a law allowing some undocumented immigrants to apply for college aid, Assemblyman Gil Cedillo's new goal is driver's licenses. The Los Angeles Democrat will carry legislation this year that would allow undocumented immigrants to be licensed, tested and insured. Similar Cedillo measures have passed the Democrat-controlled Legislature in years past but were vetoed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cedillo hopes to work with Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown on a bill that can pass muster. The issue has been extremely controversial among lawmakers for much of the past 10 years, with opponents arguing that people who are...

ROSWELL, N.M. (KRQE) - A series of political cartoons against driver's licenses to illegal immigrants is causing quite a stir. Even the governor says the newspapers cartoons go too far. The cartoons in the Roswell Daily Record poke fun at the law that gives driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. They've run in the paper over the last year, including one from Friday that features a caricature of an immigrant whose only able to muster the word "si." "Here you have a gentleman with a cap and a Mexican flag on it," said Javier Martinez from the Partnership for Community Action....

After more than three hours of debate, the House of Representatives has voted to overturn the controversial state law that allows foreign nationals to obtain New Mexico driver’s licenses, regardless of whether they are in the country legally.

SANTA FE (KRQE) - The House Judiciary Committee late Friday approved a bill to ban drivers licenses for illegal immigrants after efforts to find a compromise failed. A bipartisan group had been trying to find common ground with Gov. Susana Martinez and the Senate but couldn't do it. One Democratic version would have continued the licenses but for shorter terms and with tighter restrictions. There was also a proposal to give illegals temporary permits that could be used for driving but not for ID or other purposes.

SANTA FE, N.M. — Republican Gov. Susana Martinez suffered a temporary political setback Thursday in a bid to stop New Mexico from granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

SANTA FE — An Associated Press investigation has found that addresses of dozens of the same businesses and homes across New Mexico were used over and over again by people to get driver’s licenses in a pattern that suggests potential fraud by immigrants trying to game the system. In one instance, 48 foreign nationals claimed to live at a smoke shop in Albuquerque to get a license. In another case, more than a dozen claimed to live at an automotive repair shop over a one-year period. The scenario has been repeated at other addresses since New Mexico changed its law...

SANTA FE – Gov. Susana Martinez joined Archbishop Michael Sheehan and other Catholic bishops for breakfast Wednesday and met privately in the state Capitol over the weekend with New Mexico’s top-ranking Roman Catholic leader. But while the governor and Sheehan were able to find common ground regarding an abortion bill, they remain divided on the high-profile driver’s license issue. Sheehan and other Catholic bishops have staunchly defended the 2003 state law that allows illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, while Martinez has waged a high-profile effort to repeal the law. At the Wednesday morning Catholic prayer breakfast attended by Martinez...

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - A New Mexico judge on Wednesday blocked a move by the state's Republican governor to make it harder for illegal immigrants to keep driver's licenses in the state. Governor Susana Martinez's administration last month ordered the state to reverify the physical residency of foreign nationals who hold New Mexico driver's licenses in order to get or keep their licenses.But District Court Judge Sarah Singleton in Santa Fe issued a temporary restraining order blocking the program, arguing in a brief ruling that "irreparable injury" would occur from "constitutional deprivations to the applicants

SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico is one of just two states, the other being Washington, that allow in-state residents who are illegal immigrants to get the same driver’s licenses given to citizens, as long as they pass a written test and successfully show they can turn and stop and park. But critics, led by the newly elected governor, Susana Martinez, say that the lenient licensing law attracts illegal immigrants from far and wide who fraudulently claim they live in New Mexico in order to get identification cards that allow them to settle into American life. “We don’t have any...

Gov. Susana Martinez’s push to repeal the 2003 law that allows illegal immigrants to obtain New Mexico driver’s licenses is generating opposition from the state’s Roman Catholic hierarchy. The state’s Catholic bishops, an active voice in many hot-button political issues in recent years, are urging Martinez and state lawmakers not to scrap the controversial law, contending it benefits public safety and the economy. A statement released this week and signed by Archbishop Michael Sheehan, Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces and Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, asserts the law leads to more drivers having auto insurance and allows immigrant...

Snips from Excerpt only website: But the IDs originating from one Chinese company are nearly flawless to the untrained eye, officials said. They copy more of the security features that appear on the real thing -- holograms, bar codes, magnetic strips that can be scanned, and ultraviolet images. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Chicago this year have seized more than 1,700 Chinese-produced phony driver's licenses for the states of Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, Georgia, and South Dakota.

Foreign nationals from around the state are being summoned to Albuquerque for a check of their New Mexico driver’s license documents, but roadblocks might confront some drivers from the south: namely, U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints. Las Cruces-area drivers, for instance, who are in the United States illegally but who have legally obtained New Mexico licenses, might not be able to clear southern checkpoints to head north to Albuquerque. The roads leading from the Las Cruces area to the interior of New Mexico have five checkpoints, including one on Interstate 25 about 25 miles north of the border, according to the...

Ten thousand randomly selected foreign nationals with New Mexico driver’s licenses are being told to make appointments in Albuquerque to verify their residency, Gov. Susana Martinez’s office said Tuesday. Drivers who don’t make the appointments or fail to provide proof of residency would face cancellation of their licenses, the Governor’s Office said. Martinez said the residency certification program will provide data about the extent to which licenses have been issued to people who don’t live in New Mexico. The administration said the letters were to go out beginning immediately to 10,000 of the 85,000 foreign nationals without Social Security numbers...

The U.S. Border Patrol arrested and charged Jose Luis Aguirre last month with harboring illegal immigrants ...... [He] took out an ad in El Diaro, a Spanish-language daily in New York City, to attract clients for his services facilitating driver’s license acquisition in New Mexico, according to court papers. The cost ... $2,500 to $2,700, plus expenses ...Aguirre’s is the latest case in an international market that has drawn foreign nationals from India, Poland, Brazil, Korea and elsewhere to fraudulently obtain New Mexico licenses. The governor has called on state lawmakers to repeal the law and wants licenses already issued...

Nearly a year before an Albuquerque notary was arrested as part of an alleged heroin trafficking ring run mostly by illegal immigrants, a state agency accused her of fraudulently helping foreign nationals obtain New Mexico driver's licenses. The evidence against Ana Hernandez after an internal investigation by the state's Tax Fraud Investigations Division was blunt when sent up the ladder in June 2010: signing false names onto birth certificates and using an old business address as a residential address to help 29 people obtain driver's licenses. She at times used her name and three aliases to process and notarize the...

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck announced Monday that his officers will no longer automatically tow the cars of illegal immigrant drivers stopped at sobriety checkpoints. The policy comes in response to the concerns of Latino civil rights activists, who say impound fees are unfairly costing otherwise hardworking illegal immigrant drivers hundreds of dollars. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said his department impounds about 1,000 cars a year from illegal immigrants at sobriety checkpoints – not because they’re drunk but because they don’t have driver’s licenses. “As we reviewed our impound policies it became obvious to me that they...

The blast worked. A bill carried by Rep. Andy Nuñez (I-Hatch) that would rescind the state’s policy allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses successfully bypassed the committee process — a rarely used parliamentary procedure called “blasting a bill” — Friday (March 4) when the House floor voted 42-28 to move the measure onto the Senate. Eight Democrats defected to the side of the Republicans and Nuñez, completing two arduous days of deliberation that saw the 75-year-old Nuñez stay on his feet, verbally punching and counterpunching opponents, some of whom bitterly complained about the bill skipping committees and the passage...

SANTA FE — New Mexico moved a step closer to prohibiting foreign nationals from obtaining driver's licenses, as members of the House of Representatives voted Friday to effectively overturn a 2003 state law. The battle over the politically charged issue, which Gov. Susana Martinez has made a top priority during the 60-day legislative session, now moves on to the state Senate. The 42-28 vote taken Friday after two days of grueling debate demonstrated the new-found clout of House Republicans, who picked up eight seats in last fall's elections. However, eight Democrats broke party ranks to help give Republicans the votes...

SANTA FE — A grueling day of high-stakes political wrangling over immigrant driver's licenses in the New Mexico Legislature ended without a clear resolution. However, House Republicans, with the help of several Democrats, gave life to one of Gov. Susana Martinez's campaign priorities by circumventing the usual committee process to revive a bill that would effectively repeal the state law that allows illegal immigrants to obtain New Mexico driver's licenses. A final vote on the measure, House Bill 78, was put off until today, with House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe, vowing it will be among the first items discussed....

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....

....An estimated 230,000 illegal immigrants were living in Washington state last year — 35 percent more than three years earlier, according to a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center. The total represents one of every 20 workers in the state. ... They found that nationwide, illegal immigrants numbered 11.2 million, virtually unchanged from 2009 and down from a peak 12 million in 2007...While 57 percent are from Mexico, the illegal immigrants hail from across the world...They include people who sneaked across the borders, as well as those who came legally but overstayed employment, student or visitor visas. Continued failure...

Police say that at least seven employees at the state license bureau in Delray Beach have been taking bribes to issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens. The scam allegedly put drivers licenses in the hands more than 1,500 illegal aliens. On Thursday, police in Palm Beach arrested Willy Adam, 52, and charged him with five counts of unlawful compensation to reward official behavior, and two counts of conspiracy, both felonies. At his arraignment, Palm Beach County Assistant State Attorney Alan Johnson, told Judge Ted S. Booras that Adam is not a U.S. citizen and presents a flight risk. He is...

ATLANTA -- A state lawmaker from Marietta is sponsoring a bill that seeks to do away with Georgia driver's licenses. State Rep. Bobby Franklin, R-Marietta, has filed House Bill 7, calling it the "Right to Travel Act." In his bill, Franklin states, "Free people have a common law and constitutional right to travel on the roads and highways that are provided by their government for that purpose. Licensing of drivers cannot be required of free people, because taking on the restrictions of a license requires the surrender of an inalienable right." Franklin told CBS Atlanta News that driver's licenses are...

The number of people from outside the state getting drivers licenses in Washington last year jumped by more than 30,000 over the previous year, according to numbers kept by the state Department of Licensing. Records show 159,501 out-of-staters obtained licenses last year. In 2009, there were 129,323, which was a drop of 11,071 from the previous year. One state analyst says the 2010 increase may be one sign of economic recovery in Washington. "In-migration improved in 2010 for economic reasons," said Alice Vogel, an economic analyst with the Licensing Dept. "We may have had more jobs or more affordable housing;...

People from all over the country — make that the world — are traveling to New Mexico not just for its tourist attractions or green chile. They are also coming for driver's licenses. Police have arrested a growing number of suspected undocumented immigrants who have traveled from as far as China to fraudulently obtain New Mexico licenses. They are drawn by a 2003 law that makes New Mexico one of only three states that does not require proof of citizenship or legal residency. Take Shu Sheng Lui, who told a State Police officer arresting her Wednesday that she had flown...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A group of Brazilians has been busted for trying to get New Mexico driver's licenses illegally. State police moved in on the group of men after a Motor Vehicle Division worker noticed one of the suspects had been there before. The three Brazilian men face serious charges after state police and the state's tax fraud investigators division busted the men at the MVD downtown on Friday. "One of the investigators down there with the Office of Inspector General recognized an individual who had been in there numerous times over the last year," Major Pete Kassetas said. Kassetas...

... Pavel felt like something big was coming, so he opened up a bag of honey wheat braid pretzels – Pockets’ favorite – that he’d been hiding in case of an opportunity like this. He pushed the bag across the table to the old man, and asked him to clarify. “In 1993, we finally passed the Motor Voter Act, requiring that almost all states (a few had their own constitutional justifications to be exempted) hafta allow people to be registered to vote, if they want to be, while they’re buying or renewing their driver’s licenses. Most folks figure that their...

Having to carry a passport to fly out of the Sunport after the New Year is still weighing heavily on the minds of many New Mexicans. Because New Mexico issues driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, come Jan. 1, state licenses won't comply with the REAL ID law and won't be accepted at airports.

SANTA ROSA — A former Santa Rosa DMV clerk has lost an appeal of her conspiracy conviction for helping undocumented immigrants obtain state drivers licenses or ID cards for hefty fees. A jury convicted Aida Pulido, 49, and an accomplice in May 2008 of one count of conspiracy and four counts of obtaining false DMV documents. Pulido was sentenced to 16 month in prison. Witnesses testified that her accomplice, Teofilo Arechiga Palomera, 62, of Pittsburg, would find Latinos who had no proof of legal residency — many of whom lived outside Sonoma County — and promise them a valid state...

Few places in Virginia are as draining to the soul and as numbing to the buttocks as the branch offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles. And yet, until recently, smiling was still permitted there. No more. As part of the DMV's effort to develop super-secure driver's licenses and foolproof identification cards, the agency has issued a smile ban, directing customers to adopt a "neutral expression" in their portraits, thereby extinguishing whatever happiness comes with finally hearing one's number called. The driver's license photo, it seems, is destined to look like a mug shot. DMV officials say the smile ban...

Illegal immigrants in the Bay State could be issued driver’s licenses under a controversial amendment tucked inside the house’s comprehensive transportation reform bill yesterday. Minority Leader Rep. Brad Jones (R-North Reading) blasted the measure - which could come up for a vote today - saying undocumented aliens could use their driver’s licenses to try to vote or to board planes illegally. “I don’t think this is the time or place for this,” Jones said. “If you’re here illegally, this driver’s license could be a breeder document to get so many other things.”

Talk radio’s Rush Limbaugh and Democratic firebrand Rahm Emanuel agree on one thing: Barack Obama’s presidency could alter America for decades. Emanuel, the new White House chief of staff, recently told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that the financial meltdown provides an opportunity “to do things that Americans have pushed off for years.” Limbaugh offered the contrary view, with this warning: “We're about to see an encroachment by the left that will take a generation to roll back.” Here are a “dirty dozen” changes Team Obama is most likely to enact. Ratings Key [1 to 10 scale]: Probability Likelihood that the measure...

Obama plans to give Driver's Licenses to Illegal Aliens. It's about time some of these ads start running - now let's run them in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Indiana! Run ads showing Obama saying he will give Driver's License to Illegal Immigrants!!!! Run ads showing Obama saying he will give Driver's License to Illegal Immigrants!!!!

A California bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses is one step closer to becoming a state law. State senate bill 60 passed through the assembly Friday. If the bill becomes law, legislators say the estimated 2.2 million undocumented immigrants in California will apply for one, an idea that's creating a lot of controversy. "I think they should be able to get licenses just like everybody else," said Nicole Holland, a Fresnan who supports the bill. "They are already committing a crime coming over here," said Albert Ratliff, a Fresnan who opposes the bill. "I don't think...

Almost $3,000 [was] the price illegal immigrants from Brazil were apparently willing to pay two Russian-speaking organizers of a scheme to get them New Mexico licenses. Court documents filed Thursday charged James Kulekhov and Anastissiya Galiullina, with illegally transporting eight Brazilian nationals from Newark, N.J., to New Mexico for the purpose of obtaining state driver's licenses. Galiullina is from Kazakhstan and overstayed her visa. She needed a Russian interpreter for court proceedings Wednesday. Agents were still trying to figure out Kulekhov's true identity. ... Kulekhov and Galiullina are scheduled to be arraigned this morning in federal court. Two of the...

Democratic Debate on CNN 11-15-2007...

Gov. Martin O'Malley's decision to cooperate with the Bush administration on Real ID is a mistake. The decision turns clerks at Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration into immigration officers, forcing them to ask prospective drivers about their immigration status and then assess the validity of documents - a troublesome chore even for well-trained immigration officers. Moreover, Real ID will push illegal immigrants further into the shadows, where they will be deterred from reporting crimes to police or using emergency rooms. Because those who drive will not have a license or liability insurance, the risk for all drivers will likely increase. Although...

Deadline's up to make sure BMV, Social Security records match. The The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles says it will revoke the driver's licenses of up to 56,000 people across the state in coming weeks. They are among the 206,000 people who had received letters in November saying the information on their licenses didn't match Social Security records. Thursday was the deadline to fix the mismatched data -- be it their name, gender, date of birth or Social Security number. The whole effort -- a comparison of the BMV's 6.4 million records with those of Social Security -- had raised...

ama Defends Driver's Licenses for Illegals in Interview with ABC News February 02, 2008 1:57 PM ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told ABC's David Muir Saturday that his support for driver's licenses for illegal immigrants will not block his path to the White House because he and G.O.P. frontrunner John McCain share substantial overlap on immigration. "I think they will pounce on any issue that has to do with immigration," said Obama, referring to Republicans, "but my position has been very similar to John McCain's, who's may be the likely Republican nominee, and if he wants...

Doyle McManus, Washington Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times, and one of the three members of the mainstream media who asked questions at Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate on CNN, neglected to mention Hillary Clinton’s previous waffling on the subject of driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants when he asked the former First Lady about the issue. "Senator Clinton, Senator Obama has said that he favors allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, and you opposed that idea. Why?" As CNSNews Editor-in-Chief Terry Jeffrey noted after the November 15, 2007 Democratic debate (where Clinton answered that she did not support...

Washington -- Sen. Barack Obama easily won the African American vote in South Carolina, but to woo California Latinos, where he is running 3-to-1 behind rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, he is taking a giant risk: spotlighting his support for the red-hot issue of granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. It's a huge issue for Latinos, who want them. It's also a huge issue for the general electorate, which most vehemently does not. Obama's stand could come back to haunt him not only in a general election, but with other voters in California, where driver's licenses for illegal immigrants helped...

Michigan will no longer let illegal immigrants get driver's licenses, a practice just seven other states continue to allow. Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, who oversees the state motor vehicle department, announced the new policy Monday and said it takes effect Tuesday. Some people who are in Michigan legally but not permanent residents also will be denied licenses unless state law is changed. The change is aimed at complying with an opinion issued last month by Attorney General Mike Cox, who said granting licenses to illegal immigrants is inconsistent with federal law. Opinions by the attorney general's office...

There are a few scenes in classic movies that are so effective that the dialogue has passed into the common language. One of those is in The Treasure of Sierra Madre. Mexican bandits have confronted American gold miners, including Humphrey Bogart. The bandits claim to be federal police. Challenged to produce their badges, one gives the memorable reply, “Badges? We don’t need no steenkin’ badges,” and then they begin shooting. Well a situation began in New Jersey, then played out in the Court of Appeals of Maryland, which justifies the modified use of that line. It also should concern all...

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s administration is drawing up plans for a two-tiered licensing system that would issue different driver’s licenses to undocumented aliens and legal residents. Maryland is currently one of eight states that permit illegal immigrants to get licenses. Under the new system, undocumented immigrants would have to prove only that they live in Maryland, but they would not be able to use their licenses to board airplanes, enter federal buildings or cross borders, the Washington Post reports. Maryland Senate Minority Leaders David Brinkley, a Republican, is critical of the plan backed by the Democratic administration. “The state is...

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama picked up the endorsement of several Latino community leaders and legislators on Sunday, including state senator Gil Cedillo. The Los Angeles democrat has been one of the state's leading supporters of driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. Hillary Clinton has said she opposes such licenses. Clinton has so far won most of the endorsements from California's major Hispanic leaders, including L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. This comes on the same day that Obama, while campaigning in Las Vegas, unveiled an economic stimulus package costing up to $120 billion that his campaign said...

There are a few scenes in classic movies that are so effective that the dialogue has passed into the common language. One of those is in The Treasure of Sierra Madre. Mexican bandits have confronted American gold miners, including Humphrey Bogart. The bandits claim to be federal police. Challenged to produce their badges, one gives the memorable reply, “Badges? We don’t need no steenkin’ badges.” And then they begin shooting. Well a situation began in New Jersey, then played out in the Court of Appeals of Maryland, which justifies the modified use of that line. It also should concern all...

Court upholds denial of driver's licenseBy Liz F. Kay and Tim Wheeler | Sun reporters January 10, 2008 The state's high court upheld yesterday a decision to deny a driver's license to a Maryland resident whose permit in New Jersey was suspended because he had forged citizenship documents. Ramiro Silba Alavez, who is from Mexico, received a New Jersey license that was withdrawn after it expired in 1991, according to the decision, because the applicant had made misrepresentations on his application when he arrived in the United States. Unlike Maryland, New Jersey requires applicants to prove they are American citizens...

WASHINGTON — Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver's licenses in the next six years under ambitious post-9/11 security rules to be unveiled Friday by federal officials. The Homeland Security Department has spent years crafting the final regulations for the REAL ID Act, a law designed to make it harder for terrorists, illegal immigrants and con artists to get government-issued identification. The effort once envisioned to take effect in 2008 has been pushed back in the hopes of winning over skeptical state officials.

Raleigh — Later this year, the way you get your driver's license will change. Whether you are renewing or getting a new license, it will take more than a simple trip down to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get it. There are about 115 DMV offices across the state that make drivers licenses on-site. Because of a new law that takes effect July 1, the days of over-the-counter driver's license are numbered. “You will walk out of our office with a temporary driving permit, good for 20 days,” said Wayne Hurder, of the state Department of Motor Vehicles. “It...