KRQE News 13, Albuquerque ^
ALBUQUERQUE -- The Republican Party is taking on the state in court to get drivers’ license records it wants to comb for the names of illegal immigrants.
Illegal immigrants with driver’s licenses could commit voter fraud, according to the GOP.
Republicans claim Gov. Bill Richardson's administration isn't providing the names of illegal immigrants who have New Mexico driver's licenses.
GOP officials said they want the names on the driver's licenses so they can check them against voter registration rolls and protect against potential voter fraud.
Nina Martinez, secretary for the state Republican Party, said the group submitted a request through the state's Inspection of Public Records act back in July.
Martinez said the party estimates there are at least 30,000 illegal immigrants with New Mexico driver's licenses.
Martinez said in August the state did release 150 pages of documents, but nearly all of them had information redacted by blacking it out.
“We wanted to have the information in the summer so we could run these names against the voter registration rolls,” Martinez said. “We had to sue now because we've basically gone through all the process where they’ve denied us and sent us 150 pages of redacted material.”
David Harwel, a spokesman for the state Taxation and Revenue Department has said in the past that federal law prevents the department from disclosing the names sought by the Republicans.
A spokesman for Richardson told KRQE News 13 that the Republican Party is just trying to politicize the issue before election day.
The Republican party said it has requested an emergency District Court hearing on the issue in Bernalillo County.
Hypocrits who refuse to secure the border and enforce our immigration laws have no right then to concern and indignation over voter fraud.
Probably at least five to ten times that many, since most illegal aliens have no incentive to get a driver's license. If an illegal alien gets pulled over without a license, registration, or insurance, most police departments have made it to their policy to just let the illegal alien go, often without even so much as a citation if the illegal alien is at fault for a traffic accident. It is anarchy in the making.
2006-10-29
04:48:11
·
9 answers
·
asked by
Zoe
4
in
Politics & Government
➔ Immigration