Compromise driver’s license bill tabled

SANTA FE — A compromise proposal on the controversial granting of New Mexico driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants was tabled at least temporarily in a House committee late Tuesday after Democrats said it failed to help some immigrants.

House Bill 606, sponsored by Rep. Paul Pacheco, R-Albuquerque, would allow citizens and legal immigrants to get a newly designed driver’s license that would comply with the federal REAL ID Act when their current licenses expire.

The Pacheco proposal would create a second, unique driver’s license for illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and have been granted deferred immigration action status by the federal government.

Specifically, the unique license would be for people falling under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status President Barack Obama ordered in 2012 for children of illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents.

The unique license for illegal immigrants would not be good for identification purposes outside of New Mexico, according to the bill.

Gov. Susana Martinez and legislative Republicans have endorsed the bill as a compromise, shifting from past opposition to any driving privileges for illegal immigrants. The bill is co-sponsored by 37 members of the 70-member House.

But Democrats in the House Labor and Human Resources Committee said the bill doesn’t do enough to address a need for immigrants without the deferred action status to drive legally in New Mexico.

Illegal immigrants who have not been granted a deferred action status would lose all driving privileges in New Mexico under the proposal.

The bill was tabled on a 5-4 vote along party lines.

“I think we all agree on the kids under (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals),” said House Speaker Ken Martinez, D-Grants. “The question is what do we do with the parents. That’s the last piece.”

Although Speaker Martinez said Republicans and Democrats were close to finding compromise on the bill, no amendments were proposed to address concerns Democratic members raised Tuesday during a three-hour hearing.

The committee earlier in the legislative session tabled a previous version of Pacheco’s bill that, without any special exceptions, would have repealed the 2003 law that allows driver’s licenses to be issued to illegal immigrants. That measure was passed by the full House last year but died in the Senate.

Republican members asked for Pacheco’s new bill to be moved forward for other committees to make changes with the legislative session nearing its March 16 adjournment.

“Let’s do something about this, let’s do something about this now,” said Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell. “It needs to go for a (full House) vote, it doesn’t need to be held up in a committee. We’re running out of time here, and this bill not only this year and the year before has been stalled right here.”

The House Labor and Human Relations Committee chairman, Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque, said the bill would not be reconsidered in committee until changes are proposed to expand eligibility for illegal immigrants to have driving privileges.

Governor’s spokesman Enrique Knell said the proposal deserves to be moved on to the full House for consideration.

“Gov. Martinez has worked in a bipartisan manner for this compromise that has 37 co-sponsors and it deserves a full up or down vote in the House,” Knell said.

The Pacheco bill mirrored legislation introduced in the Senate by Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, and Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming. A hearing on that Senate version of the bill is scheduled in the Senate Public Affairs Committee on Friday.

Supporters of the bill have said the proposal for two tiers of driver’s licenses is necessary for New Mexico to comply with the REAL ID Act — the 2005 law passed by Congress to set security standards required for state driver’s licenses to be accepted as identification to board a commercial airplane or enter a federal building.

The Department of Homeland Security has not said when it would begin to enforce those rules.

However, immigrants granted deferred action status are eligible for a REAL ID compliant driver’s license, according to the federal statutes.

Since Obama’s executive order, at least 19 states that previously prohibited illegal immigrants from legally driving have initiated efforts to issue driver’s licenses to immigrants with deferred action status.

Some critics of the compromise New Mexico proposal have said that granting deferred action immigrants a non-REAL ID license would be a step backward. They say it would force immigrants considered to be lawfully present in the U.S. to use a lower-tier license that would not be allowed for federal identification purposes.