A nasty chore for citizens

Iam writing about my experiences renewing my New Mexico driver’s license under the Real ID rules. It took 10 trips (seven Motor Vehicle Division, one Social Security, one vital statistics and one doctor’s visit) to accomplish that formerly simple action.

I had used my middle name for 70 years on all transactions, including U.S. government employment. To renew my New Mexico driver’s license, I was forced to use my birth name, which my first-grade teacher could not pronounce. She called me by my middle name. Thus I became Daniel I. Duran since then, until now.

Among other onerous requirements, of particular concern was a two-page New Mexico medical form to be completed by my doctor before I could get my license. I felt it was an invasion of my privacy that left me vulnerable to medical ID fraud since everyone at the MVD now has access to my medical information, Social Security and driver’s license numbers.

This whole process has been a nightmare and extremely stressful. My family has been here for more than 300 years and, at age 76, I am certainly not a security risk. Is this a voter suppression ploy?

I am now dealing with a subsequent nightmare: changing to my birth name all my medical records, medical insurance, U.S. government checks, bank records, automatic deposit, credit cards, etc. This resulted in much wasted effort not only for me but also for staffers who had to make the changes. This is an absurd and nasty thing to do to law-abiding citizens.

This could have been avoided if someone had been properly trained to actually read the names and had the authority and courage to make a decision concluding that Daniel I. Duran is simply a person using his middle name instead of his first name, Isidro Daniel Duran.

Fear of immigrants is no excuse. “Real ID” is a real mess.

Daniel I. Duran of Santa Fe is also known as Isidoro Daniel Duran, as of May 2017.