Free Republic

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...