Republican Governor Susana Martinez campaigned on repealing driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants, one of only three states to have such a law – she failed.
The initiative that would of barred undocumented immigrants from receiving driver’s licenses was passed in the State House and then when it came to the Senate it was modified to appease opponents.
The New Mexico Senate version would have required illegal aliens with driver’s licenses to be finger printed and license renewal would be required every two years – that modification also failed to pass. Back in February the Republican sponsor version that was more stringent failed to pass as well.
Finally yesterday morning after a lot of committee meetings the measure was declared dead without any hope of passing.
Governor Martinez retorted that issuing drivers licenses to illegal immigrants was weakening the border and threatening national security.
New Mexico is the only state in the U.S. where Hispanics are the majority.
