Legal immigrant proud to vote for Clarkson

For immigrants, the only legal way to earn the right to vote is through the naturalization process.

In some cases, lawful immigrants take more than a decade to complete this process. That’s another reason why amnesty for illegal aliens is wrong and allowing them to vote is unconscionable.

My family has been fleeing tyranny and socialism for most of our lives. My father’s family fled Mussolini’s Italy and my mother fled Franco’s Spain. They met in Argentina, just in time for the military junta. My mom later fled to Venezuela, just in time for Hugo Chavez.

When I fled to this country, everything I owned fit into a single suitcase. I crossed the border legally, got my work permit legally, and learned English by listening to country music while cleaning other people’s houses (Maybe that is why KIVA talk radio host Eddy Aragon thinks I have a cool accent)!

Marina’s suitcase she came to America with.

Even though I followed the rules, our immigration system made me wait 14 years to become an American citizen. My husband, Gavin Clarkson, is the only U.S. Senate candidate with a law degree and specific proposals to fix our broken immigration system.

He is the only candidate who teaches Constitutional Law and has been endorsed by Gun Owners of America because of his articulate defense of our fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

When my husband was inducted into the Navy, he took an oath to “support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” His oath when he joined the Trump Administration thirty years later was a re-affirmation since his original oath never expires.

When I took my oath of citizenship at my naturalization ceremony, I also swore to “support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” I am eternally thankful to God for the freedoms that America bestowed upon me that day.

In order to qualify to even take that oath, however, I had to pass a naturalization exam that had at least 100 questions on civics, geography, and history, yet most native-born American voters today couldn’t pass that test! Our schools should resume teaching civics so that future citizens, both native-born and naturalized, understand the solemn responsibility that we all have to choose our elected officials wisely.

I am extremely proud of my right to vote, and I take this civic duty seriously. I encourage all voters in New Mexico to join me in electing my husband, Dr. Gavin Clarkson as our next United States Senator.