Immigrant of the Day: Marco Antonio Lopez (Mexico)

Marco Antonio Lopez (born April 7, 1978) is an Arizona politician. He has served in both elected and non-elected public offices, including Mayor of Nogales, Arizona, and Executive Director of the Arizona-Mexico Commission.

Born in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, and raised in Nogales, Arizona, Lopez graduated from the University of Arizona. Lopez currently serves at the Arizona State Capitol as senior advisor to Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano. His father was a plumber, and his mother owned a candy shop in Nogales, Ariz., where they lived. When she was pregnant with her son, Esther crossed into Mexico and gave birth to him in a clinic there to save money.

López grew up in Nogalitos, an old area of Nogales. He grew up on the borderlands, which ran from his back yard, over rolling hilltops, to the craggy wire fence that divides the United States and Mexico.

López was naturalized in 1994 and left home that year at 16 for Washington, D.C., to work as a page for U.S. Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Phoenix.

For more about Marco Antonio Lopez, click here.

KJ