Judge halts Gov. Martinez's driver's license order

The judge's action comes one week after an immigrant rights group filed a lawsuit over the matter.

By Joey Peters

A judge has temporarily suspended Gov. Susana Martinez's order that instructs 10,000 foreign nationals with New Mexico driver's licenses to prove their state residency.

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The halt comes just one week after the filing of a lawsuit questioning the order's constitutionality.

Immigrant rights group MALDEF, two state senators and one state representative filed the lawsuit, which claims Martinez overstepped her authority as governor in making the order. Martinez issued the order in July, citing New Mexico's vulnerability to out-of-state criminals abusing the driver's license law.

In a statement, Marcela Diaz, executive director of immigrant rights group Somos Un Pueblo Unido, called Martinez's order "nothing more than a bullying tactic that intimidates and threatens people for no reason."

The driver's license law, passed in 2003, allows foreign nationals to register for state driver's licenses, including undocumented immigrants. Despite a failed effort to repeal it during the general session earlier this year, Martinez will try again during the special session, which starts next week.

Here's the order from District Judge Sarah Singleton:

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