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Urging both sides to compromise on driver’s license issue
Bill O'Neill
We obviously have a major problem with people taking advantage of this progressive and well-intended law. It is a problem of fraud, and it needs to be acknowledged and solved.
Once again I find myself in the middle of one of our most contentious issues: what to do about the 2003 law that permits the issuing of driver’s licenses to foreign nationals who cannot verify their legal status in New Mexico. Once again I am struck by how the debate dominates local television, newspapers, opinion pages – and of course, the governor’s current legislative agenda.
First of all, I would like to point out that I was not in the state Legislature in 2003. This is an issue that I have approached with a fairly objective mindset, having no part in the legislation’s origin. I believe that even the fiercest opponents would concede that the law’s public safety intent was legitimate: to provide the ability for foreign nationals to attain car insurance, and in the process reduce one of the nation’s highest uninsured motorist rates, as well as make sure that these same individuals were in a data bank that could be used by law enforcement officials when warranted.
But we obviously have a major problem with people taking advantage of this progressive and well-intended law, as documented in various media accounts and, most importantly to me, through first-hand anecdotes from my District 15 constituents. Individuals can come to New Mexico to attain these licenses under fraudulent means, and then leave the state, or traffic in these bogus documents, and so on.
It is a problem of fraud, and it needs to be acknowledged and solved.
New Mexicans want this problem solved
Last week, I introduced House Bill 171, which repeals the 2003 law and substitutes instead a provisional license for these same foreign nationals who do not have a social security number. With this license they can still secure car insurance and lawfully drive themselves to work, or to church, or to school to pick up their children. The provision license cannot, however, be used to travel outside of New Mexico. This license would have no validity outside of our state borders.
Thus, the fraud problem is immediately solved: People would not come to New Mexico to attain a license that would have no validity in other states. At the same time, the sensible policy of having these individuals insured on our highways would be preserved.
Let us now talk politics, as this is really how the issue is playing out. A variation of this same provisional license approach has been introduced over the past two sessions by three of my House Republican colleagues, who, like many of us here, want simply to solve this problem and move on the many other important issues facing New Mexico.
I find it curious that Governor Susana Martinez adamantly opposes the provisional license approach and has promised to veto such a compromise. She is often quoted as saying that “74 percent of New Mexicans support my bill to repeal the current license law.” I would suggest that she is wrong, that 74 percent of New Mexicans want this problem solved, effectively and immediately, and that they are leaving the specifics of that up to us, the legislators and the executive branch.
Where are we without compromise?
Over the past several months, I have had the opportunity to walk my district, to address neighborhood meetings, and answer e-mails and phone calls. When I explain my opposition to the severely flawed, Arizona-style Martinez solution to this problem, my overriding sense is that your average voter understands that I, as a legislator, can only vote on the specifics of the bill in front of me. The details matter, and ultimately I am forced to vote on the text of a bill rather than its intent.
The Martinez-backed bill, House Bill 103, sponsored by State Rep. Andy Nuñez, is bad legislation. First of all, it completely ignores the problem that we are trying to solve – what to do about the roughly 85,000 foreign nationals in our state who would not qualify for any kind of legitimate driving privileges under the criteria it proposes. In addition, it remains an open question whether it would in fact bring us into compliance with the Real ID Act, which only a handful of states have chosen to pursue. It does not acknowledge that a driver’s license is not an invitation to citizenship – rather, it is an obligation that we insist upon as a community for our own public safety reasons.
In fairness, in the absence of federal leadership on the illegal immigration issue, states like New Mexico are forced to come up with their own solutions. In that light, my HB 171 is very close to the provisional license bill that was recently implemented in Utah.
I also believe that the governor is sincere in her belief that her approach is the best way to solve the problem. But I am troubled by the complete absence of any willingness on her end to compromise on this important issue. Where are we, in terms of being able to govern effectively, without compromise?
Our constituents do not want issues like these used for political gain. Such a route requires at least some degree of willingness to engage in meaningful dialogue, which means that people on both sides have to make concessions, in the interest of resolving the problem at hand.
I urge both sides – immigrant rights activists as well as Republican opponents – to be willing to tackle the problem with true compromise in the interest of good public policy for all New Mexicans.
O’Neill, a Democrat, represents the Albuquerque-area District 15 in the N.M. House of Representatives.
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We all know that the New Mexico Driver’s License debacle has become a cause célèbre for the Radical Right Wing of the Republican Party, which can now count Andy Nuñez as a fellow traveler with his fear mongering about truckloads of scary Mexicans coming to Hatch to get driver’s licenses. Are these Mexicans less scary when they are working in the fields?
Today’s (30 January 2012) Sun-News has perfect bookends from the more rational (that is, the Moderate Mainstream) wing of the Republican Party. On page 4A Jeb Bush describes constructive steps that We the Nation (but mostly he means, we the Republicans) could take to understand and resolve the problem of immigration and the companion problems in our education system. Of course Jeb has to blame most of the current status quo on the Democrats. Then, on page 7A we see that Kansas Agriculture Secretary Dale Rodman is, “seeking a federal waiver that would allow companies to hire undocumented immigrants.”
Some may recall that Secretary Rodman was appointed by Governor Brownback, who has also expressed moderate views on immigration, including being a cosponsor of a bill with Ted Kennedy and John McCain that would have created a legal path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already present in the United States (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Brownback#Immigration).
As I have stated many times on these pages; I will accept Voter ID and all of the other intrusive abuses of our personal privacy associated with a National ID when we use that same ID to verify citizenship in the work place. In my view, the current focus on New Mexico Driver’s Licenses is part of the larger scheme to claim rampant voter fraud, hence my linkage to the Voter ID.
I don’t want a guest Worker Program that would really be Indentured Servitude. If we are going to bring in more Labor, let them be exposed to the Free Market and not beholding to some sponsor who is actually trying to undercut the existing price of labor in the Market.
The Democrats did not recruit undocumented workers to flock to non-union Alabama, Kansas and Georgia to work in feed lots, packing houses and so forth. But now that they are here, this is one Democrat who believes they should now be counted among We the People and given the dignity of Citizenship.
As ever, Michael J. Flynn
Mr. O’Neill – do the right thing. Xenophobia and intolerance are problems prevalent in New Mexico.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGxlAvPQG18
Giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants is the right thing. Let’s be leaders in this matter! Sometimes compromise is not the best answer.
Here is a bibliography of 1930′s newspaper articles showing the ILLEGAL and unconstitutional actions taken against Mexican-Americans:
http://public.csusm.edu/frame004/bibliography.html
In 2005 California apologized for the illegal deportation of Mexican Americans under the Mexican Repatriation Program.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/05-06/bill/sen/sb_0651-0700/sb_670_bill_20051007_chaptered.html
What this country did to Mexican-Americans was totally illegal in 1930′s. Up to 2 million people of Mexican ancestry were ILLEGALLY relocated to Mexico during the 1930s, and as many as 1.2 million were born in the United States.They were deported under the the 1930s Mexican Repatriation Program. Read the book and be shocked.
http://books.google.com/books?id=1A6iBy_0qacC&pg=PA345&lpg=PA345&dq=Betrayal:+Mexican+Repatriation+in+the+1930s+Francisco+Balderrama&source=bl&ots=U0yNiQP3NY&sig=FE7HYnPa3axhkAKZN9u755iiFjM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3tcgT9rLCubTiALi0NTgBw&ved=0CGQQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=Betrayal%3A%20Mexican%20Repatriation%20in%20the%201930s%20Francisco%20Balderrama&f=true
Where was the rule of law? It was prejudice yesterday and is prejudice today. We need to adopt a compassionate policy towards illegal immigrants as an apology for this country’s illegal actions against Mexican-Americans.
Does this country operate under a rule of law or a rule of man? If an individual commits either a felony or a misdemenor in commin to this country without proper notification or documentation to/for our border patrol or some other legal and authorized enforcement organization what gives them a perscriptive right to get USA or NM benefits?
All one has to do is look at Greece and other countries that have had an open door policy on imigration to see results. I am absolutely for immigration, but to give a group of illegal or undocumented individuals benefits equal to or greater than those who spend years coming to this great country is darn stupid.
As of Friday, the House Rules Committee has refused to have this very sensible bill even printed, let alone assigned to committee. I think the leadership of both sides, AND the governor, simply DO NOT want any compromise, They prefer to waste time and taxpayer money in political posturing.
Here is the meat of the text to the bill.
B. On or after January 15, 2013, a driver’s license issued to a licensee that meets federal requirements to be acceptable by federal agencies for official federal purposes shall contain a unique design that distinguishes the driver’s license as being acceptable by federal agencies for official federal purposes from a driver’s license that is not acceptable by federal agencies for official federal purposes.
C. On or after January 15, 2013, a driver’s license that is not acceptable by federal agencies for official federal purposes shall state that the driver’s license is not acceptable by federal agencies for official federal purposes. The information shall be stated in the same manner as restrictions are set forth upon the usual license form and in the machine readable zone. The department shall establish by rule the restriction code of “J” for the restriction of “not for official federal purposes” in order to implement the provisions of this subsection.”
Below is a list of the members of the House Rules and Order of Business Committee [HRC], in case readers wish to contact them and request them to Print and Assign HB 171.
TitleNameRole
Representative
Nick L. Salazar
Chair
Representative
Eliseo Lee Alcon
Vice Chair
Representative
Ray Begaye
Member
Representative
Donald E. Bratton
Member
Representative
Joseph Cervantes
Member
Representative
Gail Chasey
Member
Representative
Zachary J. Cook
Member
Representative
Anna M. Crook
Member
Representative
William “Bill” J. Gray
Member
Representative
Larry A. Larrañaga
Member
Speaker
Ben Lujan
Member
Representative
W. Ken Martinez
Member
Representative
Al Park
Member
Representative
Danice Picraux
Member
Representative
Jane E. Powdrell-Culbert
Member
Representative
Dennis J. Roch
Member
Representative
Debbie A. Rodella
Member
Representative
Sheryl Williams Stapleton
Member
Representative
Thomas C. Taylor
Member
Representative
Don L. Tripp
Member