Déjà vu. Susana Martinez is once again wasting New Mexico’s precious (30-day) legislative session time with this non-problem designed to pander to the far-right.
As a reminder, ex-Governor Bill Richardson signed HB401 into law granting undocumented immigrants the right to have driver’s licenses. Unfortunately, this issue has served as a rallying cry to those who fear it will encourage more illegal immigration or take away jobs from American citizens.
Many of us on the left simply do not agree that driver’s licenses are encouraging more illegal immigration into the state, and are more worried of the dangers of unlicensed drivers on New Mexico freeways. (When the program started an astounding 33% of New Mexican drivers were uninsured; as of 2008, the numbers were closer to 11%).
And the Catholic Church’s humanitarian perspective is that illegal immigrants cannot support their families if they can’t drive to work.
So, who is right?
There isn’t an easy answer to this difficult question. First, let’s factor out the fear of more illegal immigration. The fact is that illegal immigration is down, way down. If you care about facts (and many on the far right do not) please read this report by the Office of Immigration Statistics showing the unauthorized population dropped from a peak of 11.8 million in 2007 to 10.8 million in 2010. (This report is the 3rd from the bottom of page 1.)
But what about the concern that undocumented immigrants are taking jobs away from citizens? To a limited extent this might actually be true. One can easily see how an unskilled or semi-skilled laborer (lettuce pickers and motel maids aside) could be displaced by a lower-paid undocumented worker in some cases. But there were a grand total of only 11,000 driver’s licenses issued in New Mexico to foreign nationals anyway—hardly a job-destroying number.
Which is more important to you (fear of getting killed by an unlicensed, uninsured driver or losing your job) probably reflects your educational level. Since many New Mexicans do not have a college degree or a vocational education they are more likely agree with the Martinez initiative. This is reflected in polls on the driver’s license question (72% reportedly agree with Martinez), and in reader’s comments to a prior article on this subject in this column and elsewhere.
However, New Mexico is a Democratically-controlled Hispanic state with a significant number of Catholics who disagree with Susana Martinez on this issue. Accordingly, state Democrats successfully defeated this initiative in last year’s legislative session.
What is a possible compromise solution? Give illegals a “permit” allowing them to (safely) drive a vehicle in the state. This is the current policy in Utah. A restricted license would not be adequate to vote, buy a home, or (more importantly) take out of New Mexico and use it to get a real driver’s license in another state. This middle-of-the-road approach should begin to satisfy everyone except those who still cling to the notion we should forcibly round up and deport all 11 million or so undocumented immigrants.
The question is, should this be one of the top legislative priorities for New Mexico?
Comments