New Mexico woman indicted over immigrant driver licenses

[The Northerner]

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - An Albuquerque woman was indicted on Thursday on charges of creating fraudulent residency documents to help illegal immigrants get New Mexico driver's licenses.

New Mexico is currently one of three states, including Utah and Washington, that allow undocumented immigrants to lawfully obtain driver's licenses if they can show proof of residency and identity.

The grand jury indictment accuses Ana Hernandez, 45, of more than 300 felony counts over accusations she used her Albuquerque business address on documents she fraudulently created for Mexican nationals so they could obtain licenses.

"This is yet another egregious case that shows we're attracting criminal elements to our state for the sole purpose of obtaining driver's licenses," Republican Governor Susana Martinez said in a statement.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/mexico-woman-indicted-over-immigrant-driver-licenses-023321520.html

[Lasher]

1. I wonder how widespread this is.

Washington state revokes illegal immigrant’s driver’s license

07/22/2011

The state of Washington has canceled the driver’s license of a journalist who, in a New York Times Magazine article last month, revealed that for 14 years he kept a secret from his U.S. employers: He is an illegal immigrant.

While illegal immigrants can still obtain drivers licenses in Washington, licensing officials said they canceled Jose Antonio Vargas’ driver’s license because he could not prove that he lived in the state when he obtained it, as required by law.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/22/washington-state-revokes-illegal-immigrants-drivers-license/

[rabs]

2. This lady looks to be a really bad apple

She was out on $25,000 bail she posted a couple of months ago. She and six illegal immigrants were arrested on charges of distributing heroin.

[Lasher]

3. I read here at DU back in March that this couldn't happen.

Here was the claim:

"If it makes you feel any better, any out of state illegals who try to get licenses (in New Mexico) are caught and turned over to Immigration. Slowly the word is getting out that if you can't establish residency here, you're not only not going to get licensed, you're going to get caught."

[Warpy]

4. She also got caught

The DMV is alert to this sort of thing, referring it to law enforcement whenever they start to get the least suspicious. They get suspicious about any sudden increase in license applications from undocumented "residents."

Occasionally it's egregious enough to hit the papers out of state, as this is.

Even with an NM license, there is no SSN on it. There is a blank space where it is supped to go, alerting authorities that the person is undocumented.

The program has worked as advertised within the state. Undocumented workers have passed tests on local traffic laws and have registered and insured their cars.

The rest of you hosers can deal with undocumented workers who don't know the laws driving uninsured vehicles with plates they might have stolen from your own cars. Your choice. NM decided not to.

In any case, it's far easier and cheaper to get a faked license than a real NM license. Ask any underage college drinker.

[Lasher]

5. So now you're saying it happens.

But alert NM officials catch on if there is a surge of bogus license applicants, you say. So how would these officials react to a consistent flow of applications from illegal aliens living in other states? Not at all, it appears.

And there's no Social Security number on these licenses, according to you. But what about Jose Antonio Vargas? His Washington license had a Social Security number on it. Was he the only one? What do alert NM officials do to ensure applicants are not furnishing invalid Social Security numbers? And what's to stop applicants from later doctoring their licenses the way Vargas did?

I agree people can get bogus documents, I just don't think state governments should help furnish them. Back in March you called me a xenophobe for saying federal legislation should prohibit states from granting drivers licenses to illegal aliens. Well call me what you will, but that's the way this 'hoser' thinks we should deal with these misguided laws in New Mexico, Washington, and Utah.