Woman sentenced in illegal driver's license ring
Posted at: 12/14/2012 11:20 AM
By: The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A woman who claims to be a political pawn in the immigration debate has been sentenced to 10 years for forging affidavits that authorities say allowed 44 illegal immigrants to get New Mexico driver's licenses.
The Albuquerque Journal reports Ana Hernandez was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to 10 of 324 charges in an indictment that named her and 42 others last year.
The 46-year-old is accused of signing affidavits that falsely said the applicants lived at her business address. Hernandez's attorney, Scott Mullins, says his client was singled out for overzealous prosecution "and the dangerous inference of immigration politics in the administration of justice."
Gov. Susana Martinez has made three unsuccessful attempts to repeal the state law that allows illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses.
She has cited Hernandez's case as particularly troubling because she has been charged separately in a heroin trafficking ring.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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