Anti-Immigrant New Mexico Governor Reveals Her Illegal Roots

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, the nation’s first Latina governor, has fought hard to repeal a law in her state that gives undocumented immigrants driver’s licenses.

The driver’s license issue was huge during the gubernatorial campaign. The New Mexican reports she pledged to introduce a bill to revoke the licenses of undocumented New Mexican residents. In July, she said the state had randomly recalled 10,000 foreign nationals to “re-verify their New Mexico residency.”

Martinez’s Grandparents Were Undocumented Aliens

But in an interview with KLUZ-TV, the Univision affiliate in Albuquerque, the Republican governor said her paternal grandparents came into the country illegally.

And she still wants to punish all undocumented immigrants?

From Chrome.com:

“I know they arrived without documents, especially my father’s father,” the Republican said Wednesday in an interview in Spanish with KLUZ-TV, the Albuquerque Univision affiliate.

Martinez has long acknowledged her Mexican heritage. But when asked previously about reports that her grandfather was an illegal immigrant, her office has said Martinez was unsure of his status since he abandoned the family when her father was young.

Her comments Wednesday appeared to be the first time she has answered the question definitively. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported in July that the 1930 U.S. Census Bureau record lists Martinez’s paternal grandparents’ citizenship status as “AL” for “alien,” a status that refers to “all foreign-born persons neither naturalized nor having first papers.” However, Martinez was not directly quoted in the story addressing her grandparents’ immigration status.

Martinez’s Grandfather A Threat Against Public Safety?

In her interview with KLUZ, the reporter asked if her grandfather would be considered “a threat against public safety,” a charge that Martinez has made against undocumented immigrants in her state.

Martinez said that times were different when her grandparents entered the United States. Back then, she said, people crossed the border freely. Now, she said, especially after Sept. 11, “we have to make sure people don’t get a license using fake papers.”

However, The Associated Press spoke to experts who focus on Mexican-American history. Guadalupe San Miguel Jr., a University of Houston history professor, told the AP the laws in the 1920s, when Martinez’s grandparents came to the U.S., weren’t much different than they are now.

Is Martinez Ashamed Of Her Grandparents?

Martinez says repeatedly that she doesn’t support the DREAM Act. But now she should know better than anyone that we have no control over the actions of our parents or grandparents.

You would think that learning that her grandparents entered the U.S. illegally would make a difference, right? After all, she wouldn’t be here, much less be Governor of New Mexico, if her grandparents had not entered the United States as undocumented immigrants.

Pretty ironic and pretty sad, yes? Is the New Mexico governor that ashamed of her heritage? And what would her grandparents say?

Governor Jerry Brown Signs DREAM Act, Part One

Photo Credit: govtech.com

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

surjit k.

10:55PM PST on Nov 24, 2011

Rosa G. Very well said. Only naive people would not understand what you have said. It doesn't matter which ever country it is, " Illegal " is Illegal, period.

send a green star

Scott L.

8:35PM PDT on Sep 28, 2011

Oh crud, I meant... Rock On, Gov Martinez.

8:34PM PDT on Sep 28, 2011

Rock On, LT Gov Martinez.

Lika S.

1:40AM PDT on Sep 23, 2011

So she's descendants from illegal aliens... If not for the illegals, then she wouldn't be here, much less the governor. So maybe she should relinquish her seat and her pay because illegals don't deserve to be in office. She's obviously not smart enough to stick to her own family. Yet she is a conservative? Where are her family values when her illegal grandparents gave her the opportunity to be here to become the first female Hispanic to become a governor of any state? Oh, but illegals are bad... that's a double standard and cowardice that she thinks she should be exempt from the rules. How about if your grandparents weren't citizens, you can't be governor?

Immigrant I.

6:00PM PDT on Sep 22, 2011

wow wow calllllm down JANE B... you sound like youre ready to put a white sheet over your face or something. I live in California also and I dont know what youre talking about... immigrants are the reason why were broke??? wow really, yeah theyre the reason why there arent any jobs, they made the economy crash.. hmm yeah that sounds about right... its funny how history ALWAYS repeats its self and EVERYTIME the economy crashes its ALWAYS the immigrants fault... geez we love making those immigrants our scapegoats.. who would we blame without them...??

5:48PM PDT on Sep 22, 2011

HYPOCRITE... or maybe she wants to "assimilate" soo bad that she wants to show the White Republicans that she is in fact different from her family and the rest of the people that have the same struggles as her grandparents did. She wants to shed off her family history. you know whats funny... her ass will still get pulled over in arizona!!

Lynne B.

9:40AM PDT on Sep 19, 2011

Hypocrite.

Alison B.

9:15PM PDT on Sep 17, 2011

Clearly this is a double standard. The voters got what they wanted in this governor. Pity.

David L.

5:20AM PDT on Sep 16, 2011

The issue is clear-cut. Independent American-born children of undocumented aliens should be granted citizenship. Undocumented aliens and their dependent children should be deported. This is a legal issue, not an ethnic one, and it could easily be averted if only we would adequately fund and enforce our existing immigration laws. It would also be very helpful if we were to address the unfair economic conditions that drive desperate foreign nationals to enter the US illegally, especially those unfair economic conditions that we ourselves have created.

KS G.

5:10AM PDT on Sep 15, 2011

Thanks for the article.