Somos Un Pueblo Unido Protecting Immigrants' Rights in New Mexico

Somos Un Pueblo Unido 1205 Parkway Dr, Suite B Sante Fe, NM   87507   telephone: 505-424-7832 fax: 505-438-8518 email: somos@rt66.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2007

Contact: Marcela Díaz, Somos Un Pueblo Unido

Over twenty-five statewide organizations rallied on Friday to urge legislators to reject the implementation of the REAL ID Act in New Mexico. Members from a broad spectrum of grassroots and advocacy groups convened at the Capitol to lobby state senators in support of House Joint Memorial 13, sponsored by Representative Ken Martínez. The memorial urges Congress to repeal the Act and affirms that New Mexico will reject its implementation at the state level.

The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, would standardize states' drivers' license application procedures and essentially create a national identification card. The Act, if implemented, would require states to redesign and reissue all licenses, investigate and verify the authenticity of identity documents with emitting agencies, store electronic images of such documents for lengthy periods of time, and put applicants' data into a national database that would be accessible to every MVD clerk in the country.

The consequences of implementing the Act would be dire for New Mexicans. According to opponents, it would expose all residents to increased identity theft and fraud, cost New Mexico taxpayers close to 40 million dollars, and force New Mexicans to face higher fees and longer lines. Residents would no longer be able to obtain same-day licenses. Moreover, the Act restricts the ability of states to give non-discriminatory licenses to all qualified drivers regardless of immigration status.

The Act was slipped through Congress in May 2005 as part of the "must-pass" Iraq War and Tsunami relief appropriation bill and was not heard at a single hearing in the Senate.

"The REAL ID Act is an attack on our privacy and basic civil liberties," stated New Mexico ACLU executive director Peter Simonson. "If the federal government wants to create a national ID card and database to track its citizens, then it must have an honest and open debate about the ramifications of such a weighty and far reaching proposition. This Act was not passed through a democratic process, and now New Mexico has an opportunity to send a message to Washington. Our state should not be stuck with this costly and bureaucratic nightmare, and New Mexicans do not want to be forced into participating in a national ID card scheme."

The REAL ID Act has drawn criticism from a broad spectrum of national and local groups, including the ACLU, the Cato Institute, the American Bar Association, the National Conference of Sate Legislatures, and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. In New Mexico over thirty statewide organizations representing labor, business, faith-based, immigrants' rights and civil liberty advocates have endorsed Representative Martínez' memorial. Supporters include: the New Mexico Municipal League, the New Mexico Federation of Labor, the Rio Grande Foundation, the Catholic Conference of Bishops, the New Mexico Domestic Violence Coalition and the NAACP.

The New Mexico Municipal League of local elected officials passed a resolution last August calling on the state legislature to reject REAL ID.

Las Vegas Municipal Judge Eddie A. Trujillo, President Elect of the Municipal League, stated "The requirements to get one of these REAL ID's are so extensive and onerous that several groups would be left without licenses. When thousands of immigrants, Native Americans, and elderly drivers can't renew or obtain licenses because they can't furnish all the documents required by the Act, it's our local law enforcement officials and courts that will bear the burden of not being able to identify people. New Mexico's public safety will suffer. "

"In its zeal to punish immigrants, Congress and the President have attempted to place an enormous burden on all residents of the United States," said María Cristina López, Board member of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, a New Mexico immigrants' rights organization. "Not only would this cost our state millions and wreak havoc at our MVD offices, but it would undermine the progress New Mexico has made in integrating the immigrant community and promoting public safety."

The REAL ID Act is not mandatory. Several state legislatures are contemplating similar resolutions to reject its implementation and urge repeal. Currently there is a bill in Congress that would repeal many of the Act's provisions. New Mexico's House Joint Memorial 13 is making its way through the Senate.