New Mexico moves to cut off driver's licenses for illegal immigrants

New Mexico’s House of Representatives on Thursday voted to repeal a 12-year-old law granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. Mike Lonergan, spokesman for Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, said easy access to licenses encourages criminals and human traffickers to “snatch up our license to take elsewhere, to places unknown and for purposes unknown.”

New Mexico Senate Democrats vow to fight the bill. Republicans say licenses make voter fraud easy, but Matt Barreto, co-founder of the Seattle-based Latino Decisions polling and research firm, said no studies show these drivers are involved in fraud or terrorist activity.

New Mexico law allows individuals seeking driver’s licenses to substitute other forms of identification in place of a Social Security number or current immigration documents. But the federal REAL ID Act of 2005 requires states to somehow mark the licenses of illegal immigrants so they cannot be used for federal purposes. REAL ID documents will soon be the only acceptable way to enter Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening areas for commercial airline flights.

Ten states currently allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. California, the most recent state to implement such a law, expects to license 1.4 million new drivers over the next three years. Tanya Broder of the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles said, “It made sense that all the drivers were tested and licensed and insured and accountable.” New Mexico Republicans say the state’s law after 10 years has not lowered rates of uninsured motorists.

“We tried the experiment, and it didn't work,” said Rep. Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.