Republican New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez is at odds with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and most of her party when it comes to immigration policy. She told The Daily Beast that the debate over immigration during the GOP primary “alienated” Hispanics.
“I have no doubt Hispanics have been alienated during this campaign,” Martinez said. “Now there’s an opportunity for Gov. Romney to have a sincere conversation about what we can do and why.”
But the policies Romney touted on the trail are not what Martinez has in mind. Martinez scoffed at the idea of “self-deportation,” a policy proposal from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach that Mitt Romney embraced on the trail and a guiding principle behind the Arizona and Alabama immigration laws.
“‘Self-deport?’ What the heck does that mean?” Martinez said.
Martinez said she wants the Republican Party to embrace comprehensive immigration reform, though she is not in lock step with Democrats on the issue. According to the Daily Beast, Martinez favors a multi-level approach that includes ramped-up border security, deportation for criminals, a guest-worker program for people who want “to go freely back and forth across the border to work,” a DREAM Act-style pathway to citizenship for children brought here illegally — though she does not favor a stand-alone DREAM Act — and a visa with a penalty attached for the illegal population to remain in the country while they go through the legal process of getting residency and citizenship.
