New Mexico House Majority Leader Nate Gentry says Republicans will strongly push for a revision to the state's immigrant driver's license law.
Gentry said Tuesday that House Republicans hope to come to an agreement with the Democratic-controlled Senate to make New Mexico compliant under the federal REAL ID Act.
The GOP House is pushing to revise a state law that allows immigrants suspected of being in the country illegal to obtain New Mexico driver's licenses. Under the proposal, those immigrants could get driver's permit cards and residents would get REAL ID compliant driver's licenses.
Marcela Diaz, executive director of the Santa Fe-base immigrant advocacy group Somos Un Pueblo Unido, says the House proposal is "unacceptable." She said driver's permit cards opens up immigrants to discrimination.
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5:45 p.m.
Senate Democrats are criticizing criminal justice reforms advocated by New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez in her State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez described on Tuesday the governor's public safety agenda as pro-incarceration and lacking in funding for rehabilitation and substance-abuse treatment.
Sanchez indicated current DWI laws are sufficient but needed better enforcement. He said the state's violent crime problem is focused in Albuquerque, where dissatisfaction with the police force runs high.
Senate Democrats remain at odds with the governor's proposal to replace state driver's licenses for immigrants with a driving-privilege card to comply with federal REAL ID requirements.
Democratic Senate leaders also say they will oppose the governor's call for right-to-work legislation and to hold back third-graders who do not read at their grade level.