New Illegal Immigration Issue of Probing into Latino Republicans’ Family Histories
In the midst of the illegal immigration issue, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez opened an investigation into her own family heritage.
In the heat of the nearing presidential elections, another illegal immigration issue that seems to compound the current problem on immigration reform is the recent look into Latino occupation in the Republican party.
“As more Latino Republicans seek and win elected office, their families’ backgrounds are becoming subject to increased scrutiny from some Latino activists, a reaction experts say is a result of Latino Republicans’ conservative views on immigration. It’s a new phenomenon that experts say Latino Democrats rarely faced, and could be a recurring feature in elections as the Republican Party seeks to recruit more Latino candidates.”
The GOP is largely associated with laws and policies that have not been in favor of illegal immigrants, and as such, have received a lot of criticism, especially for being against comprehensive immigration reform.
One of the Latino Republicans who received great criticism from immigrant advocates is New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who was called upon by pro-immigration activists to research and unearth her late grandfather’s history as he could have been an illegal immigrant.
The individual family histories of all other Latino officials in the Republican party are just as equally placed under scrutiny, as immigration advocates capitalize on them to further their opposition of GOP.
“Ignacio Garcia, a history professor at Brigham Young University, said it comes from a long tradition by liberal activists of portraying Latino Republicans as ‘vendidos,’ or sellouts, since the majority of Latino voters tend to vote Democratic.”
Meanwhile, an immigration law professor at the University of Houston, while not in approval of the New Mexico Gov.’s license probe, did not approve of the recent family probe on Martinez either, saying: “I don’t think it’s fair for people to dig around in her family’s past.”
The race between the Democrats and Republicans seems to have taken a sharp turn here. While the Hispanic voting community has largely been Democratic, there seems to be a potential for the Democrats to fall behind still – despite the flak received by Latino Republicans – mainly because Latinos do not get the same opportunity in office in the Democratic party.
“[T]he difference now is that these new Latino Republicans, like Martinez and Rubio, are better prepared and are being groomed as national figures.”
Ignacio Garcia adds, “there’s also a new factor — the millions of new independent Latino evangelicals who could be potential GOP voters. This population is new and unpredictable.”
The recent illegal immigration issue has either only carved a deeper rift between the rival political parties, or has made a casualty out of the country’s immigrant population as it gets inevitably caught in a very tense electoral crossfire.
Filed Under: Immigration News
