Lawsuit targets New Mexico’s two-tier identification system

New Mexico is being accused of illegally denying driver’s authorization cards to some residents after the state adopted a new system in 2016 to meet federal REAL ID Act requirements.

Civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups filed a lawsuit Monday in state district court in Santa Fe.

Under the state’s two-tiered system, the Motor Vehicle Division issues two kinds of identification. One is a driver’s license that meets tougher federal security rules and the other is the authorization card geared toward people who don’t have the identity documents needed for a new license, including immigrants in the country illegally.

The groups claim the state has failed to fully and correctly implement the driver’s license law and that requiring unnecessary documentation for the driver’s authorization card is causing confusion.