LAT: Mexican American astronaut isn't changing course on immigration stand

Jose Hernandez waves to well wishers as he
leaves for the launch pad at Kennedy Space
Center.
(Gary I Rothstein / EPA / August 25, 2009)

Mexican American astronaut isn't changing course on immigration stand
NASA went ballistic when Jose Hernandez advocated legalization of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. shortly after his return to Earth. The California-born son of migrants isn't backing down.

September 16, 2009

Reporting from Mexico City - He may have soared a gazillion miles in outer space, but back here on Earth, U.S. astronaut Jose Hernandez has stepped knee-deep in controversy.

Hernandez, the California-born son of Mexican immigrants, is a full-fledged media star in Mexico. Fans here followed his every floating, gravity-free move during two weeks recently as he Twittered from the Discovery space shuttle mission and gave live interviews to local TV programs.

After the shuttle returned to this planet last week, Hernandez told Mexican television that he thought the United States should legalize the millions of undocumented immigrants living there so that they can work openly in the U.S. because they are important to the economy.

Officials at NASA flipped. They hastened to announce that Hernandez was speaking for himself and only for himself.

<snip>

"I work for the U.S. government, but as an individual I have a right to my personal opinions," he said in a video hookup from a Mexican restaurant owned by his wife in Houston. "Having 12 million undocumented people here means there's something wrong with the system, and the system needs to be fixed."

He added that it seemed impractical to try to deport 12 million people. In the previous day's conversation, he spoke of circling the globe in 90 minutes and marveling at a world without borders.

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deporting 12 million people is just unrealistic, there has to be another way whether it be legalizing them all or something else.