By HECTOR BALDERAS
New Mexico Attorney General

I was raised in rural Wagon Mound, a village of 256, where my family still resides.

It is a community that is too often forgotten, and like its state, faces every struggle imaginable, from intergenerational poverty and trauma to substance misuse and lack of educational and economic opportunity.

Growing up on food stamps and in public housing, I developed a deep conviction that everyone deserves the same opportunities to succeed, regardless of background. From these struggles, I developed a passion to provide for my family, and to bring Hispanic communities everywhere with me.

Much like Latino families across the world who risk everything to cross borders to provide a better future for their families, as the youngest Hispanic statewide elected official in the nation at 33, I know the fear and insecurity that comes with chasing the American Dream.

Now having served New Mexico in elected positions for 18 years, and in the current political and cultural environments we find ourselves, I wonder what the American Dream means today. I believe it is what it has always been—the opportunity to prosper and make a better life for your family. Unfortunately, our dream has always come with a struggle—barriers set up by those who want to choose who gets that opportunity. Nevertheless, those who have been held back from their dream have always persisted, and still do. The urgency for us to reject any attempt to smother someone’s dream because of who they are persists as well.

As the Hispanic and Latino population reshapes our country’s demographics in the coming decades, the work continues to ensure we are adequately represented in positions of leadership, but the reality is that the response from the shrinking majority, and the restrictive barriers that come with it, are based on historical misconceptions about Hispanic and Latino culture. Deliberate distortions, such as Hispanics and Latinos are a drain on the economy, or that we are all immigrants who do not speak English, not only erase our humanity, but they willfully ignore our massive contribution to the fabric of America. My grandfather was a decorated World War II hero, yet I still witness marginalization that leaves Hispanic and Latino voices ignored and silenced.

Hispanic and Latino values are synonymous with the values of this country—we believe in family, hard work, and supporting our communities. We are multiskilled, multilingual, educated, and now more than ever are in a position to change America to reflect the reality of our presence, our identity as Americans, and to help the country grow stronger than it is today. Despite paying lip service to notions of diversity and inclusion, American institutions still fail dramatically at actually adapting to our reality, but it is time to tear down any wall that stops our families from meaningful participation and achievement of the American Dream.

I have put this identity and perspective into every aspect of my work as an elected official. I have fought to protect DACA recipients—most of whom are Latino, came to our country as children by no choice of their own, and who are now members of our military, teachers, and healthcare workers serving our communities. I have also fought for greater equity by attacking corporate and political corruption that harms communities of color; including private businesses like for-profit educational institutions that prey on Hispanic and Latino people trying to make a better life for their families. Through this work, my office, and others across the country, has worked tirelessly to provide safe communities for Hispanic and Latino families so that they can truly prosper.

Of course, this work continues—I know that as a Hispanic leader, I will not stop serving all of our communities until reality reflects our dreams. I am proud of who I am and where I come from; and I hope that my experience will pave the way for kids who look like me and grew up like me to achieve things I could never imagine. I know they will. I know it because our people are beautifully resilient, smart, passionate, hardworking, and we are the American in the American Dream.