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NM Blocked From Resuming Immigrant License Checks

A New Mexico judge is stopping Republican Gov. Susana Martinez's administration from reviving a plan to cancel the driver's licenses of immigrants who fail to verify whether they continue to live in the state.  The administration announced the program last year but it was suspended by a state district court in Santa Fe after the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed a lawsuit.

District Judge Sarah Singleton on Thursday issued an order permanently blocking the license verification program.

A spokesman for the governor said the administration agreed to the order because the program would have been suspended for months if the lawsuit continued.

At the time of the program, only New Mexico and Washington allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain the same driver's license as a U.S. citizen.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.