Senator Carroll Leavell Says Passports Might Soon Be Needed for Traveling New Mexicans

New Mexico Senate Minority Office
All 15 Republican Senators Tonight Voted Against Bill That Continues Policy of Giving New Mexico Driver’s Licenses to
Illegal Immigrants

Santa Fe—All 15 Republicans and one Democrat in the Senate voted against a bill that continues the policy of giving New Mexico driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. The so called “status quo” bill passed the Senate 25 to 16. The vote came at approximately 11:50 p.m., after nearly five hours of debate.

Earlier in the evening, Republicans in the New Mexico State Senate supported a floor amendment to the already amended House Bill 78 to stop the practice of issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, but the amendment failed largely along party lines and then all of the Republican Senators went on to vote against the final Senate amended version of the House bill that keeps the current policy in place of granting people who are in the state and in the country without legal documentation a New Mexico driver’s license.

Republican Senators on the Senate floor said New Mexico is left with the status quo.

Another Republican Senator said that if Senators vote for the amended bill that continues to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, the state’s legal residents will have a compromised form of identification.