Court clerk in D.C. rejects man’s driver’s license because it’s from a foreign country: New Mexico

In this April 26, 2018 file photo, Gavin Clarkson of Lac Cruces, N.M., speaks at the Albuquerque bureau of The Associated Press. A District of Columbia clerk refused to accept Clarkson's state driver's license for a marriage license because she and her supervisor believed New Mexico was a foreign country. | Associated Press file photo by Russell Contreras, St. George News

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A District of Columbia clerk and a supervisor refused to accept a New Mexico man’s state driver’s license as he sought a marriage license because she and her supervisor believed New Mexico was a foreign country.

Gavin Clarkson told the Las Cruces Sun-News it happened Nov. 20 at the District of Columbia Courts Marriage Bureau as he tried to apply for a marriage license.

After approaching the clerk for a license and showing his New Mexico ID, Clarkson said the clerk told him he needed an international passport to get the marriage license.

Clarkson said he protested to a supervisor, who also told him that he needed a foreign passport.

The clerk finally concluded New Mexico was a state after Clarkson objected three times. The clerk granted the license to Clarkson and his fiancée.

“She thought New Mexico was a foreign country,” Clarkson said of the clerk. “All the couples behind us waiting in line were laughing.”

Clarkson, who is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation, said if he’d had his tribal identification card he might have had an easier time than showing his New Mexico driver’s license.

In a statement, the D.C. courts system acknowledged the staff error to the Sun-News.

“We understand that a clerk in our Marriage Bureau made a mistake regarding New Mexico’s 106-year history as a state,” Leah H. Gurowitz, spokeswoman for D.C. Courts, said in an email. “We very much regret the error and the slight delay it caused a New Mexico resident in applying for a D.C. marriage license.”

New Mexico became a U.S. state in 1912.

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10 Comments

  • 42214 November 30, 2018 at 7:35 pm

    Public servants at their finest. Another reason democrats shouldn’t be in positions of power.

  • Comment November 30, 2018 at 9:37 pm

    People that can’t recognize all 50 states should not have passed 4th grade, but instead we move them on up to gov’t jobs. As politically incorrect as it is, I won’t say it, but I bet I can guess the race of these particular employees.

    • 42214 November 30, 2018 at 10:19 pm

      Boy Comment, you and I are going to get in trouble. We guessed the politics and race of the moron “public servant”.

  • jaltair November 30, 2018 at 10:39 pm

    What! This is just too funny to seriously comment, thanks for the article!

  • Pa Triot December 1, 2018 at 6:37 am

    I hear Ocasio-Cortez is hiring…..

    • 42214 December 1, 2018 at 10:43 am

      I wouldn’t be surprised if Ocasio-Cortez was the clerk.

    • Red2Blue310 December 1, 2018 at 7:43 pm

      No. Another incompetent Trump appointee. Tired comments about democrats, when repubs accept perverts, crooks, pedophiles and incompetents to fill their party.

      • 42214 December 1, 2018 at 10:35 pm

        Care to be be specific about your allegations of perverts and pedophiles, or do you just choose to throw out a lot of unsubstantiated crap. Explain your logic on taxes re: internet sales vs brick and mortar. You made an absolute fool of yorself on that one Red.

        • Red2Blue310 December 4, 2018 at 5:40 pm

          Trump is a pervert (grab em by the …) president; Micheal Fl ynn, Manafort, Cohen and of course Trump crooks, and quite frankly 42214, if you dont know all the scandals and disgrace coming from the weak republicans, your head has been up your … .
          Ed. ellipses

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