New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez recently lost her bid to deny driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. The bill died in the state Senate, and Martinez, whose state is one of only three to allow undocumented immigrants licenses in the first place, has vowed to fight on. The story of the licenses is interesting on its own: Reuters reported that over 80,000 foreign nationals hold licenses in the state, and revoking those could put New Mexico right in the middle of the national immigration debate.
But what's probably more interesting is that the news came the same week that new Census figures showed that the state is getting browner, and younger (see sensational local news coverage here). Figures show that the Latino population stands at about 46 percent, while non-Hispanic whites make up 41 percent of the state. In total, the state's population grew by 13 percent, and the Latino population in the state is growing 10 times faster than whites. Those numbers keep up with national trends that are especially prominent in the Southwest.
Democrats won New Mexico in 2008, but it's a state that's notoriously fickle when it comes to its political allegiances. Martinez, who won a close race against former Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, is being touted as an example of rising Latino political clout in the country. But her rabidly anti-immigrant platform proves that as the state's demographics change, its politics will likely be much slower to follow. At least not in the beginning. You could say that the state's in the middle of what Robert Brownstein at the National Journal called a "generational mismatch." Brownstein wrote last summer:
Over time, the major focus in this struggle is likely to be the tension between an aging white population that appears increasingly resistant to taxes and dubious of public spending, and a minority population that overwhelmingly views government education, health, and social-welfare programs as the best ladder of opportunity for its children.
In short, it's a battle over resources. And while Martinez's hard-line stances may appease the state's current electorate, her approach clearly isn't for the long haul.
