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New Mexico Immigrant License Repeal Effort Passes First Hurdle

An effort to repeal a New Mexico law that allows immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally to obtain driver's licenses has cleared its first hurdle despite a comparison to the Holocaust.

The House Safety and Civil Affairs Committee voted 5-4 along party lines Thursday to move along the GOP-led proposal aimed at revamping the state driver's licenses laws.

But Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero, an Albuquerque Democrat, said the effort reminded her of stories from the Holocaust and warned it would create more divisions in New Mexico.

The proposal by Rep. Paul Pacheco of Albuquerque calls for creating a "two-tier" driver's license system for some immigrants.

But Marcela Diaz, executive director of the Santa Fe-based Somos Un Pueblo Unido, says that would only create "scarlet-letter" licenses.

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