I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The New York Times compared the attitudes of New Mexico and Arizona when it comes to immigration, and finds New Mexico much more open and tolerant. For instance, a new law in Arizona directs police to check drivers licenses and other documents if they suspect a person may be an immigrant, in New Mexico all people are allowed to obtain drivers licenses for public safety reasons.
In New Mexico, Gov. Bill Richardson decried the new Arizona immigration law and instructed the state’s Human Rights Division to be ready to help any New Mexico residents worried about travel through Arizona.
As The Times points out, a key difference between the two states is that New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanic residents of any state in the nation, at 45 percent and a state legislature that is 44 percent Hispanic, which says a lot about why the state is more welcoming of immigrants:
New Mexico’s legislators embrace the civil rights protections in the state’s Constitution — including so-called unamendable provisions akin to a Bill of Rights that historically protected Spanish-speaking citizens of the former Mexican territory — and often mount a “protective stance” toward immigrants regardless of legal status, said Christine M. Sierra, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico.
“When the community at large feels threatened, folks close ranks and join in solidarity to protect the group,” Professor Sierra said, noting that Arizona Latinos have struggled to assume the same kind of a power in a state where a greater influx of Anglos (the general term for non-Hispanic whites) over the decades has diluted their strength.
Arizona, on the other hand, has a population that is about 30 percent Hispanic, with a state legislature that is only 16 percent Hispanic. There are many more undocumented workers in that state than in New Mexico. The entire article is well worth the read.
