Remember That Story That NM Gov. Martinez's Grandparents Were Illegal Aliens? Yeah, About That...

It’s not true. Patrick Hynes writes at Big Government that her grandparents were not US citizens, but were not here in the US illegally either. Her grandparents, according to an AP story that Hynes quotes, understood the process by which aliens from Mexico could move back and forth cross the border, and they abided by that process. It’s nice to see the mainstream media follow up and correct its errors. It would be better if they didn’t keep making the same “mistake” over and over again. Despite the correction, some on the left will continue to use the bogus story against Gov. Martinez.

Here’s why this matters. Gov. Susana Martinez, like FL Sen. Marco Rubio, is a conservative Hispanic Republican. Like Rubio, she favors upholding and enforcing US law on immigration. Those two facts are major problems for the left. And also like Rubio, Martinez has come under fire from the mainstream media. Rubio recently found himself blackmailed by Univision, and had media swarming after a Washington Post hit job on his family history. Back in September, the Santa Fe New Mexican used Gov. Martinez’s grandparents’ alleged legal status to undermine her strong position on border security and immigration law. In both cases, the media launched race-based attacks to damage strong conservative Republican Hispanic leaders. A similar smear hit conservative Republican Senate candidate Ted Cruz in Texas back in October, and he isn’t even in office yet. Three conservative Hispanic Republicans, three smears based on their family histories. We’re past “Hm, isn’t that odd?” to “Hey liberal media, knock off the intentional and racist smear campaign.”