Governor-elect's message for Obama
By: CNN's Gabriella Schwarz


(CNN) - President Obama said he wants to meet with the freshman class of governors, and the country's first female Hispanic governor-elect said she knows what she wants to say to him.

"I certainly want him to focus in on New Mexico and the issues of, one, creating jobs… reviving our economy, but also on the border," Republican Governor-elect Susana Martinez said in an interview set to air on CNN's John King, USA Wednesday. "We must secure our border."

Martinez will become New Mexico's first female governor when she's sworn in, and as governor-elect of a border state, said the country needs to address the issue of illegal immigration.

"I don't support amnesty… there has to be some other way of dealing with the issue," she told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. "It may be we identify individuals but we cannot just have a path to citizenship created when there are people in line already doing the proper things."

She also spoke out against the New Mexico law that allows illegal immigrants to receive driver's licenses and then have the ability to travel throughout the country.

"My focus has been on removing the driver's licenses and revoking those that have already been issued," Martinez said. "I never want an individual who's in New Mexico who has been a victim of a violent crime not to be able to dial 911 and call the police and get the same treatment that any American citizen would receive as a victim of crime."

Martinez, a former Democrat and district attorney received the endorsement of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during the campaign, but declined to endorse her for president.

"(The) people are the ones that are going to decide whether she should become the next president," Martinez said. "She certainly energized Americans to listen, focus, pay attention to what elected officials are doing. I congratulate her for that."

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