It sure was necessary to get a New Mexico driver’s license when I moved there in 2000. They would not even accept a U.S. passport as identification.
You should have just said "No Habla Inglais," and Bill Richardson would personally deliver you a new DL, no questions asked.
That's cause you're not an illegal.
When I moved to Arizona in 1989, there was a provision that you did not need to provide a social security number in order to get a drivers license.
I did not submit one, and I obtained a drivers license.
It was under Bill Clinton, with the so called “dead beat Dad” bill that federalized the system of child support and allimony, that required a social security number for licenses, and a data base to track men all across the country.
People always have warned about the loss of liberty with a national use of the Social Security number, and here it is, implemented incrementally over the last 35 years.
The early social security cards had a warning, boldy printed on the card: Not to be used for identification.
I still have my original card that says that.