New Mexico’s Governor Martinez Holds Her Ground: No Licenses for Illegal Immigrants

by Joe Guzzardi
March 16, 2011

New Mexico’s Susana Martinez, the state’s first female and the nation’s first Hispanic governor, campaigned on repealing local laws that provide illegal immigrants access to driver’s licenses. And voters turned out heavily in Martinez’s favor, electing her by a comfortable margin.

Born and raised in El Paso, Martinez’s father and husband have served as deputy sheriffs. Before her November election, Martinez was a U.S. district attorney. Given her personal and professional background, Martinez is obviously a strong law enforcement advocate. Whatever objections her detractors may have about her political views, pinning the racist label on her would be a stretch.

One of the first things Martinez, a Republican, did was make good on her promise. Led by another Hispanic-American, Independent Andrew Nuñez, the New Mexico House passed H.B. 78 to deny driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. But when the bill reached the Democratic-controlled Senate, H.B. 78 was gutted. On March 8, New Mexico’s Senate Judiciary Committee voted by 6-5 to remove the language that would prohibit aliens from driving. According to Nuñez, the committee “eviscerated" his bill.

Martinez issued a scathing statement. In a press release, Martinez said: "The bill in its current form is a sham and insults the intelligence of every New Mexican who wants to see this dangerous law overturned.”

To call issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants “dangerous” is an understatement. According to Robert Thibadeau, director of Carnegie Mellon’s Internet Security laboratory, the 19 terrorists on September 11 were holding 63 state driver’s licenses for identification. As long as the practice of issuing licenses to applicants regardless of their immigration status remains, so does the threat.

Although possibly giving terrorists a de facto national ID card is a horrifying prospect, there are further consequences. Driver’s licenses make it easier for aliens to get scarce jobs. In January, 2011, more New Mexico residents were unemployed than at any time in its history, more than 80,000. During the same period, only 2,200 jobs were created. Those few jobs must go to American citizens or legal immigrants. In today’s depressed employment market, illegal aliens should not hold jobs they are not allowed to have in the first place. Giving aliens driver’s licenses undermines the rule of law and makes it easy for greedy, unscrupulous businessmen to hire them without risk of penalty. The Senate’s version of H.B. 78 policy harms both the illegal immigrant who has his rights abused and legal New Mexicans who cannot find jobs.

New Mexico doesn’t keep track of how many licenses it has issued to illegal immigrants but it does calculate that 80,000 of them belong to people without Social Security numbers. Even though all drivers must show proof of identification and residency, for foreign-born that can include a matricula consular card, infamous for being instantly available from document forgers for a small fee. New Mexico also has the nation’s highest rate of uninsured drivers.

New Mexico, along with Washington and Utah, are the only remaining states that do not require proof of citizenship to obtain a license. Utah’s version is “driving privilege only” and not considered valid identification. Lured by the prospect of a license, illegal immigrants have moved in large numbers to those three states.

In a courageous move, Martinez has promised to veto the Senate bill saying that “it continues to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.” Furthermore, Martinez has called for a “straight up or down vote” on the licensing issue. That raises an interesting prospect. Although New Mexico is over 40 percent Hispanic, both Martinez and her defeated Democratic gubernatorial opponent Lt. Gov. Diane Denish promised to stop giving licenses to illegal immigrants.

Given the pro-enforcement dynamics of today’s immigration debate, it is probable that Martinez would prevail.

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Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns—mostly about immigration and related social issues since 1986. He is a senior writing fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns have frequently been syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. He can be reached at [email protected].