MVD tightens commercial driver's license requirements for noncitizens - Olivier Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico has tightened up requirements for noncitizens seeking commercial driver’s licenses to comply with new federal rules in the aftermath of fatal crashes that officials blame on immigrant drivers.
The New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division said Thursday it will issue new and renewed commercial driver’s licenses only for people who hold three specific types of visas.
The U.S. Department of Transportation began a nationwide audit of commercial driver’s licenses after a driver officials say was in the country illegally made a U-turn on the Florida Turnpike on Aug. 12, causing a crash that killed two people.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to pull federal funding from New Mexico for failing to properly give the driver, Harjinder Singh, an English language proficiency test during a July 3 traffic stop near Raton.
State Taxation and Revenue Secretary Stephanie Schardin Clarke, who oversees MVD, said New Mexico rigorously complies with all rules issued by the federal Department of Transportation.
“Everything we do in the issuance of these CDLs and learner’s permits to (noncitizens) is compliant with everything that they’ve requested of us,” she said Thursday.
New Mexico issues a relatively small number of commercial driver’s licenses for noncitizens.
Since 2023, New Mexico MVD has issued noncitizens 500 commercial driver’s licenses and commercial learner’s permits, of whom 204 currently hold those licenses, the agency said Thursday.
Those numbers account for a fraction of the 38,411 active commercial driver’s licenses and 26,302 active commercial learner’s permits registered with MVD.
MVD was unable to estimate on Thursday how many noncitizens who currently hold commercial driver’s licenses will be unable to qualify for renewal.
In the past, MVD only required foreign nationals to have an Employment Authorization card to substantiate their authorization to work in the U.S., the agency said. Noncitizens also must present a foreign passport to obtain a commercial driver’s license.
Nationwide, only about 10,000 of the 200,000 noncitizens who now have commercial licenses would qualify for them, the U.S. DOT estimates.
To qualify, drivers must have one of three specific visas: an H-2a for temporary agricultural worker, an H-2b for temporary nonagricultural workers, or E-2 visa for people who make a substantial investment in a U.S. business.
MVD made the announcement Thursday to give noncitizens a heads-up about the tighter restrictions before they arrive for an appointment to get a commercial driver’s license, Schardin Clark said.
“We’re hoping we can get the word out to those individuals to inform them before they wait and come in so that they’re not surprised that they’re ineligible or that we can’t complete their transaction,” she said.
U.S. Department of Energy cancels $135.2M for New Mexico projects - Source New Mexico
The U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday announced the cancellation of $7.5 billion in awards for 223 projects across the country. In a news release, the department said the canceled projects “did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”
In a post on social media, Russell Vought, director of the United States Office of Management and Budget, listed 16 states in which grants had been canceled, including New Mexico, and wrote: “Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled.” An Associated Press story identified the states as ones that had all voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.
The grants were through DOE’s Offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations; Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; Grid Deployment; Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains; Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy; and Fossil Energy.
In a news release, New Mexico Democratic U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, described “Donald Trump’s decision to cancel 223 energy projects in 21 states” as “nakedly political, unhinged, and unlawful. And now those cancelled energy projects have become the latest casualty of Trump’s vengeful attack on the American people.”
The projects, Heinrich’s statement noted, were already approved and funded by Congress and are ones that “create jobs, lower electricity costs, and move our country forward. Instead of working to help our families and communities.”
The projects in New Mexico total $135.2 million, the news release said, and include $42.7 million to New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology for the third phase of a project to a project to develop a storage hub at a commercial scale within San Juan basin; $35.6 million for PNM for a “virtual power plant enablement that improves grid stability and reduces customers’ electricity bills”; and $15.4 million for Kit Carson Electric Cooperative for a distributed battery energy storage system.
Heinrich said in his statement he had lunch with DOE Secretary Chris Wright shortly before news of the cancelled projects broke. “He had neither the courtesy nor the care to mention that this was coming, and that it included ten projects in my state,” Heinrich noted, “projects that affect real jobs and real families. That tells you everything you need to know about how this Administration operates: in the dark and with no respect for the people hurt by their decisions. The American people deserve a government that works for them, not one that plays politics with their lives. This Administration is choosing to punish ordinary families just to settle scores — and that is as dangerous as it is un-American.”
The DOE says award recipients have 30 days to appeal the canceled funding.
New Mexico credit unions offer programs to help people through government shutdown - Cathy Cook, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico credit unions are offering loan programs and waiving penalties to help workers affected by the federal government shutdown.
Credit unions are nonprofit, member-owned financial institutions, and three Albuquerque-based credit unions are offering programs to help out members who have been furloughed or are missing paychecks because of the shutdown.
“I think people keeping their cars, staying in their homes, having access to credit or funds to help bridge them to whatever this looks like on the other end, that’s where we can show up,” said Alex de la Cruz, executive vice president at Sunward Federal Credit Union.
Sunward Federal Credit Union is offering a member assistance program during the government shutdown. The program has been offered to its members before in other times of financial hardship, like after recent floods in Ruidoso.
It includes waived penalties for early term certificate withdrawals, waived non-sufficient funds and penalty fees for overdrafts, skipping a payment on a signature loan or auto loan, requesting a loan modification on mortgages, and applying for a relief loan for up to three months net pay.
If the shutdown stretches out for a long period of time and member needs increase, the credit union will add more things to the program to help mitigate those effects, de la Cruz said.
While government shutdowns can financially strain federal employees, they can also affect military personnel and if a shutdown stretches out, can impact small or midsized businesses that support federal institutions, according to de la Cruz.
To prepare ahead of a government shutdown, make sure you have savings and are managing your credit score and budget, de la Cruz said. To respond to a shutdown, you can lean on trusted financial partners.
He said that could be a credit union or bank you have an account with, state resources or municipal and county programs.
Nusenda Credit Union is also offering flexible loan payment options, early certificate withdrawals and a 0% interest member assistance loan, to help ease the financial burden for members, according to spokesman Eric Harrison.
U.S. Eagle Federal Credit Union is also offering a relief loan for its members, with 0% interest for the first 90 days. The Eagle Relief loans are up to $5,000 and meant to help members who experience a sudden loss of income, like a furloughed federal employee. It requires documentation of the hardship. Affordable short-term loans are also available for non-members affected by the shutdown.
“In situations like these, we’re less concerned about how much money we can earn off a loan or anything like that,” said Michael Moore, executive vice president and CFO of the credit union. “We just want to make sure that people are able to get back on their feet, and we are happy to be a part of that.”
The government shutdown does not extend to the National Credit Union Administration and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the federal agencies that provide deposit insurance to credit unions and banks. Both entities are considered essential and continue operating.