Republican Gov. Susana Martinez isn't giving up on her proposal to stop New Mexico from granting licenses to illegal immigrants, but her top House ally predicts the issue is dead for this year's legislative session.

The Senate won't accept the governor's proposal although the House has approved it.

Rep. Andy Nuñez, a Hatch independent, said Tuesday he expects the immigrant license issue to become a potent campaign topic this year. All 112 House and Senate seats are up for election.

"There are going to be a few from this chamber that won't be back because of that bill, I can almost guarantee that," said Nuñez, who sponsored the legislation to overturn New Mexico's immigrant license policy.

The Senate late Monday adopted an alternative to the governor's proposal. It will continue to allow driver's licenses for illegal immigrants but restricts the licenses to one year. Currently, a license can last four years or eight years. The Senate proposal also requires fingerprinting of immigrants applying for a license.

The Senate approved the measure on a 27-15 vote, with all but one Democrat supporting it.

Democrats hold a narrow majority in the House, and Nuñez said there is not enough support in the House to approve the Senate-passed bill -- likely ending chances for any legislation to pass this session. Eleven House Democrats broke party ranks last week and joined Republicans in approving the bill backed by Martinez to end licenses for illegal immigrants.

Martinez said Tuesday she wouldn't sign the Senate proposal even if it passed the Legislature.

"New Mexicans do not want a law in place that continues to provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, period," said Martinez.

She wants New Mexicans to call their senators and urge lawmakers to approve her proposal before the session ends Thursday. But if nothing passes, the governor said she'll continue to push the issue in future legislative sessions. Martinez's term runs through 2014.

"I am going to fight at every opportunity to make sure this law is repealed," Martinez said.

The governor contends it's a public safety risk to issue licenses to illegal immigrants.

But Senate President Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, said the Senate-passed measure will strongly deal with the fraud problems alleged by the governor.

The Senate-passed bill authorizes the state to cancel previously issued licenses -- more than 90,000 since 2003 -- if there's a suspicion of fraud and the state verifies the license holder no longer lives in New Mexico. The Martinez administration launched a program last year to try to check the residency of current immigrant licensees, but a lawsuit blocked that effort.

"This bill provides far and away more safety to New Mexicans than any other," Jennings said in a statement.

Supporters of the current law say a driver's license is critical to the immigrants living and working in New Mexico, some of whom have been here for years and have U.S.-born children.

Marcela Diaz, executive director of an immigrant rights group, Somos un Pueblo Unido, said the Senate measure "is the only piece of legislation that takes serious steps against fraud while keeping all residents of New Mexico licensed and insured."

"We are thrilled that the sweeping majority in the Senate has rejected the politics of fear and believes there is a better option for New Mexico than repeal."

New Mexico and Washington are the only states that allow illegal immigrants to obtain the same driver's license as a U.S. citizen. Utah grants immigrants a driving permit that can't be used for identification, unlike a driver's license that helps people open bank accounts or board a commercial airliner.




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