I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez has released a new TV ad in which she says she will stop “giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants” if she becomes governor.
In 2003, Gov. Bill Richardson signed a change to state law to allowing undocumented immigrants to get drivers’ licenses. The move would encourage drivers to buy auto insurance and lead to safer roads, his administration said.
Four years later, an analysis of the measure showed that the licenses were only partially responsible for a 23 percent drop in uninsured motorists.
Denying licenses to undocumented immigrants “increases uninsurance rates and the number of unlicensed drivers, and it undermines effective law enforcement,” according to The National Immigration Law Center.
The ad features Doña Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison praising Martinez’s efforts at prosecuting crime that spills over from Juarez, which Martinez calls “the murder capital of the world.”
Here is the full transcript of the ad:
MARTINEZ: I’m standing in New Mexico. And on the other side of that fence, it’s the murder capital of the world. When crime spills over, I prosecute.
NARRATOR: Susana Martinez for Governor.
GARRISON: All candidates talk tough about border security. But Susana, she’s done something about it. She prosecutes members of the most violent Mexican cartels.
MARTINEZ: Criminals take advantage of weak laws. Like giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. As governor, that will change.
NARRATOR: Susana Martinez for Governor. She’ll fight for border security. She always has.
