In an August 24 press release, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) called for a lawsuit to block Gov. Susana Martinez’s attempt to require foreign-born New Mexico driver’s license holders to show proof of legal residence. The suit was filed in the First District Court in Santa Fe against the Secretary of the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, on behalf of a group of New Mexico legislators and residents of New Mexico.
MALDEF asserts that “Governor Martinez’s licensing scheme must be stopped because it constitutes gross usurpation of power from the Legislature, which is singularly empowered to create the laws and policy of New Mexico.” The petitioners are asking the court to “order the Secretary to immediately cease and desist the implementation and execution of this unconstitutional program created by the Secretary and carried out by the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division.”
Wait a minute! Didn’t President Obama just announce broad immigration policy changes that “constitute gross usurpation of power from the Legislature”? Did I miss MALDEF’s press release announcing their intent to sue President Obama to prevent him from usurping congressional authority to make immigration policy? Or, maybe, they just haven’t gotten around to that one yet.
It seems that it is not just our immigration policy that is broken. There is something fundamentally wrong with a judicial process that routinely allows illegal aliens and their advocates access to the courts whenever they feel their interests are being harmed, while American citizens are routinely denied standing to sue to prevent policies harmful to their interests from being carried out.
Of course MALDEF has no intention of suing President Obama for bypassing Congress and implementing what amounts to an administrative amnesty. The problem is that it is unlikely anyone else will have the opportunity to sue him and his administration. The bottom line is that illegal aliens are afforded better protections under our legal system than American citizens are.