Mitt Romney's Mexican Roots; His Father Was Born In Mexico, He Could Choose Dual Citizenship

Four years after electing its first black president, the U.S. could soon have its first presidential nominee whose father was born in Mexico.

It's already been published: Mitt Romney's father is Mexican. George Romney was born in 1907 in an American colony in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

This could could make his son, Mitt, today's favorite to be the GOP presidential candidate, a potential Mexican citizen, with full rights. He could even run for Presidente of the Mexican republic.

Check out any official Mexican guide for "paisanos" - those living in the U.S. - that now appear to have been written with Romney's father in mind: "Dear Paisano: If you are Mexican and have children born in the United States, by registering them in any Mexican consulate they will have dual nationality." (source in Spanish)

Mitt Romney needs to just -- if he hasn't already -- go to the closest consulate to his domicile (or whenever he is campaigning right now) with some documents that his aides-de-camp could easily gather: the birth certificate of baby Willard Mitt, born March 12, 1947 in Detroit, Mich., together with the name of the hospital and the doctor in charge, his father George W. Romney's birth certificate and two witnesses.

In fact, the GOP front runner has deep roots in Mexico, including his second cousin Leighton Romney, and about 40 other relatives descended from religious pioneers who first traveled to Mexico 125 years ago, according to report airing tonight on NBC's "Rock Center with Brian Williams." The Romneys of Mexico live in Colonia Juarez and Colonia Dublan, two remaining settlements just 175 miles south of the border. They said they support the candidate and are proud of their family history. Romney has never come to visit.

"He's got a great pioneer heritage starting with people that crossed the plains going from Illinois to Utah, and then on from Utah down to Mexico," Leighton Romney told NBC's Mike Taibbi. "So there's a great heritage there of people that had to fight for what they believed in and for people that had to travel to different places and learn different things. I think there's a vast amount of experience that he could draw from there." READ MORE