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.
Foreign nationals summoned by the Motor Vehicle Department to verify their New Mexico residency now do not have to travel to Albuquerque, as the Martinez administration authorized a second processing center in Las Cruces Tuesday, reports the Silver City Sun-News.
Last month, MVD sent out 10,000 letters to the estimated 85,000 foreign nationals with New Mexico driver’s licenses asking them to make an appointment and travel to an office set up in the Bank of the West building in Albuquerque to verify their residency within 30 days. (Here is what the letter looks like.) The Martinez administration defended the move as a crackdown on fraud, citing cases of one address being used more than 60 times and 35 percent of calls to MVD coming from out-of-state area codes. Washington is the only other state allowing foreign nationals to obtain driver’s licenses.
Foreign nationals complained that the trip to Albuquerque entails a stop at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on I-25, where agents ask can ask about citizenship and immigration status. Also, license-holders would have to get time off from work and travel for an in-person meeting in Albuquerque.
The governor’s office said establishing a second center in the state’s second-largest city was a practical move — and not due to the checkpoint.
Martinez wanted to end allowing illegal immigrants to have driver’s licenses altogether and has fundraised off the effort, but such measures have failed in the legislature. Gov. Richardson approved the law in 2003 allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses in 2003, citing public safety: Illegal immigrants already drive to and sometimes for their jobs; allowing them to have a driver’s license would allow them to carry insurance and therefore make the roads safer.
Once their state residency and identity are verified, foreign nationals can keep their licenses.
