New Mexico the Hub for Undocumented Immigrants

Attracted by a 2003 law, people from all over the world are traveling to New Mexico to obtain driver's licenses because the state doesn't require proof of citizenship or legal residency. According to a copyright story Friday in the Albuquerque Journal, authorities have arrested a growing number of suspected undocumented immigrants who have traveled from as far away as China to fraudulently obtain New Mexico licenses. The Associated Press reported last summer that three states — Washington, New Mexico and Utah — were seeing surges in the number of immigrants seeking IDs, a trend experts attributed to crackdowns on illegal immigration in Arizona and elsewhere.

Shu Sheng Lui told a state police officer Wednesday she had flown to Albuquerque from Missouri and paid a man $500 to help her get a New Mexico driver's license. Lui, 33, along with Hiew Fongyee, 31, and Lam Fong Siu, 44, were arrested at a state Motor Vehicle Division office in Albuquerque's south valley after they tried to obtain licenses using forged residency documents. According to criminal complaints, the Chinese nationals had paid 22-year-old Gordon Leong for forged documents showing they live in New Mexico so they could obtain driver's licenses. Leong was arrested and charged with conspiracy. Lui faces the same charge. Fongyee and Siu, who both live in New York, were charged with one count of altered, forged or fictitious license.

"It shows that we have a good process in place that is meant to detect any fraud or anyone trying to get a license without proper documentation," MVD spokesman S.U. Mahesh said. New Mexico residents have generally opposed the state's driver's license law, according to a recent Albuquerque Journal poll that found that 67 percent of residents are against it. On the campaign trail, Gov.-elect Susana Martinez pledged that she would work to revoke licenses issued to foreign nationals under the law.