Winner of the New Hampshire Republican primary, Mitt Romney has been pretty vocal against illegal immigration.

But now that he is the Republican front runner he realizes that he needs the support of Latino voters to win the presidency.

So he casually mentioned the other day that his father was born in Mexico. He also made an appeal to Latino voters.

“Take a group like Latino-Americans. If I can convince more Latino-Americans to vote Republican, I’ll be doing pretty well pretty broadly,” Romney said at a campaign stop in New Hampshire’s Nashua Chamber of Commerce, according to Univision.

It hasn’t been a secret that he has family roots in Mexico but it’s not something he has touted.

It turns out Romney’s Mormon great grandfather, Miles Park Romney, fled from Utah to Mexico to avoid anti-polygamy laws. His grandfather had four wives in Utah and took a fifth in Mexico.

Romney’s grandfather and his father, George Romney, were born in Mexico. Under Mexican laws, Romney could become a Mexican citizen, even though he is not ethnically Mexican.

This is so ironic. As the author of this Chicanísima blog, I am of 100 percent Mexican ethnicity. But my grandparents, not my parents, were born in Mexico. So I cannot apply for Mexican citizenship. But Mitt Romney could.

Of course, he wouldn’t do that since he wants to become president of the United States.

The bigger issue here is Romney’s hypocrisy. Mexico took in his family when they faced persecution for what he called their religious beliefs. Mexico welcomed his family and he still has relatives there, according to aNBC story.

But Romney is against the DREAM Act and would punish immigrant children brought to the United States through no fault of their own. These youth also came here with their parents seeking shelter and a better life. But Romney would deport them.

Romney can’t play both sides of this issue. It is not so black and white. Many Latinos who are U.S. citizens have relatives or friends who are undocumented. They won’t vote for a candidate who would punish undocumented youth.

And we know the Latino vote is important is many key states. In the last presidential election 31 percent of Latinos voted Republican, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. I don’t think Romney would get those same numbers.

Romney’s connection to Mexico will not help him win a single Latino voter.

Lo siento “Mitteo.”

Source: Chicago Now.