Diana Norwood, left, of Los Alamos with her mom Magdalena ‘Lilly’ Norwood who recently ran into immigration issues while attempting to renew her driver’s license at the MVD on Central Avenue. Courtesy photo
Longtime Los Alamos resident Diana Norwood sent a letter (link) to the Los Alamos Daily Post recently expressing her frustration with a system that snared her 77-year-old immigrant mother, Magdalena “Lilly” Norwood.
Through a multi-layered, risk based system, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken significant steps to ensure that immigration benefits are not granted to individuals who pose a threat to national security. However, side issues are surfacing such as the one that occurred locally when Lilly Norwood arrived earlier this month at the MVD Office on Central Avenue to renew her driver’s license.
“So basically, she laid on the counter a current driver’s license that was going to expire in a few days, her military dependent ID, and her social security card, and still as far as the state of New Mexico goes, she is here illegally,” her daughter said during an interview at the Los Alamos Daily Post following the incident. “We called our attorney Shay Kendricks and she went with us to the Los Alamos MVD. They sent my mom to Santa Fe to be fingerprinted and undergo a background check. Shay went with her.”
MVD personnel in Los Alamos and Santa Fe were very nice to her mother, she said.
“They couldn’t do anything, but they were very nice,” she said. “I’d like to think that wasn’t because our attorney was with her.”
Lilly Norwood passed the background check and has now been issued a driver’s license, her daughter said.
“I had a call from our County Council Chair David Izraelevitz after my letter was published in the Los Alamos Daily Post thanking me for writing it,” Diana Norwood said. “He was very concerned and very supportive.”
Izraelevitz told the Los Alamos Daily Post that it could just as easily have been his mother that this happened to and that it is important to reach out and offer support when these situations occur.
Diana Norwood said she also received a call from Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard of Los Alamos who after hearing of her mother’s situation, verified that the Taxation and Revenue Department has struggled with implementation of the Real ID Act and in doing so has unfairly targeted legal residents and many times American citizens.
Garcia Richard noted that she had attempted to resolve this issue through legislation this past session in the form of House Bill 476 “Documents Acceptable for ID Cards”, which would have broadened the documentation accepted for a person to obtain a non-Real ID compliant identification card, she said.
“Unfortunately, we’ve heard many stories, just like Ms. Norwood’s, of elderly citizens, homeless individuals and legal residents having a tough time obtaining driver’s licenses.” Garcia Richard said. “House Bill 476 was a way to remedy this situation that unfortunately did not pass. I have reached out to Ms. Norwood to offer assistance in her case and will continue to try and work with the department to resolve this matter more broadly.”
Diana Norwood expressed concerned about what might happen to her when she needs to renew her own driver’s license. She explained that she was born at a U.S. military hospital in Wurtzburg, Germany where her father was stationed. She received a “report of citizen born abroad” document rather than a birth certificate and said that MVD personnel “don’t have a clue what to do when they are handed one of those forms.”
“We as Americans better have a passport or birth certificate with us when we go to renew a driver’s license,” she said. “The MVD computers are behind so it can make this stupid nightmare even worse for legal green card holders.”
Editor’s note: Maire O’Neill of the Los Alamos Daily Post contributed to this story.
