Senate Democrats Attempt to Explain Position on Issuing Driver's Licenses to Illegals

SANTA FE-- The Democratic Caucus of the New Mexico State Senate released the following statement on the drivers licenses for foreign nationals law.
"This issue has drawn national attention and it has made one thing very clear: the current law must be strengthened to include provisions that clearly address the flaws. Repealing the law and forcing a fraction of the driving population to go without proper licensing, registration or insurance puts New Mexican families at risk. That is why in the last session we fought for a law that would directly address the challenges that we face.

The compromise bill would have required license renewal every two years, required fingerprints in a database that would have been available to all departments of law enforcement and would have raised the penalties for those who knowingly provided false paperwork for foreign nationals.
There are more than 90,000 foreign nationals with licenses, and 97 percent of them have complied with our state's licensing requirements. Repealing the law would not advance public safety, would not help law enforcement and would not eliminate instances of fraud. A sweeping approach may create safety issues. We need to address those actually committing fraud while making sure that everyone driving is licensed, registered and insured."

Senate Democrats Attempt to Explain Position on Issuing Driver's Licenses to Illegals