Days before the state Legislature convenes, opponents of Gov. Susana Martinez's effort to halt issuance of New Mexico driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants gathered Saturday at a Roman Catholic church in Santa Fe to share information and talk about lobbying efforts.

Organized by Pax Christi Santa Fe, representatives from the immigrant-rights group Somos Un Pueblo Unido joined with parishioners of Santa María de la Paz Catholic Community and other residents for what was billed as a "Let's Keep Driver Licenses For Immigrants" forum.

The mostly over-40 crowd of some 40 people seemed to be in agreement with various speakers' arguments that the issue speaks to civil rights and social justice within the immigrant community.

"It's not about Susana Martinez," said community organizer Alma Castro of Somos, suggesting that anti-immigration movements are gaining steam around the Southwest. "It's about power. They are using immigration as a wedge issue to gain political power."

Another Somos representative, Marina Piña, said, "A driver's license is much more than a driver's license in our community. If this law is repealed, what's next?"

New Mexico is one of just three states (along with Utah and Washington) that allow immigrants without Social Security numbers to obtain driver's licenses. Since 2003, when Gov. Bill Richardson signed a law authorizing such licenses, the state has issued somewhere between 80,000 and 90,000 driver's licenses to foreign nationals.

Martinez, who vowed during her gubernatorial campaign to seek repeal of the state law, argues that it's a matter of public safety to ensure that no foreign criminals gain access to a U.S. identity.

But Marcela Diaz, executive director for Somos, said Saturday that the motor-vehicle agency of any state probably has the most up-to-date data — age, eye color, address and a photo — on all citizens, making it a valuable tool for law-enforcement and immigration agencies around the country.

"We don't think of driver's licenses as a right," she said, "but as a requirement for public safety."

Many of the speakers at Saturday's gathering, including San Isidro Catholic Church Deacon Anthony Trujillo, noted that the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops recently made it clear that it is against a repeal.

The bishops do support a compromise bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to have licenses if they meet more rigid residency requirements, agree to frequent license renewals and agree to being fingerprinted.

"We don't want to get involved in political values," Allen Sánchez, executive director of the conference, said in an interview Friday. "We will get involved in legislative values. The governor has said she will put this bill on the call. The archbishop made a statement saying we will be prepared to oppose it with a counterproposal."

Sánchez added: "We need to help people be safe, and we do need to issue driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants who qualify under this compromised law. We have children who come to our country through no fault of [their] own. They graduate from our high schools, and we expect them to not get a driver's license? We are putting people on the road to a life of one illegal action after another."

Among the speakers at Saturday's event was a Hispanic immigrant named Israel, who, in Spanish, told of his repeated efforts to attain a driver's license by obtaining proof of residency, such as bills and bank account records.

He said he set up eight different appointments with the state Motor Vehicle Division to try to get a license and was repeatedly sent away to collect even more documents.

This led to one of the few laughs of the event, when a woman in the crowd said, "What terrorist would want to sit through eight appointments to get a license?"

Diaz and others urged the assembly to contact legislators and attend a rally at a planned Immigrant Day of Action at the Capitol, scheduled for 10 a.m. Jan 24.

"Our goal is to stop this repeal bill from getting to the governor's desk," she said. "We're fighting for the soul of our state."

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.