Font ResizeSANTA FE - Gov. Susana Martinez on Friday said she would veto any bill to continue granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants.
"I oppose that. I will not support it," she said during a news conference.
A bill approved by the state Senate to toughen the existing licensing law is not sufficient, she said.
The Senate proposal would require fingerprinting of foreign nationals and mandate that they renew their licenses every two years.
Martinez is pushing instead for a bill approved by the House of Representatives. That measure would repeal the 2003 law allowing people to receive driver's licenses without proof of immigration status.
About 83,000 licenses have since been issued to foreign nationals, some of whom were in the country illegally. The state Department of Motor Vehicles does not track how many had legal status and how many did not.
Foreign nationals account for about 5 percent of the nearly 1.7 million people who have New Mexico driver's licenses.
Democrats in the Senate, with one exception, supported continued licensing of undocumented immigrants who provide other forms of identification. These include individual taxpayer numbers, birth certificates from their home country and Matricula Consular cards.
Sen. John Arthur Smith of Deming was the only Democrat to vote against the bill. Democrats control the Senate, 27-15.
New Mexico is one of three states that issues driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. The others are Utah and
Santa Fe Bureau Chief Milan Simonich can be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or (505) 820-6898. His blog is at nmcapitolreport.com.
