New Mexico congressional delegation asks Google, Apple to commit to keeping state’s name on maps

New Mexico’s congressional delegation on Thursday called upon major tech companies Apple and Google to commit to ensuring New Mexico retains its name on the companies’ maps.

The letter to Apple CEO John Ternus and Google CEO Sundar Pichai follows President Donald Trump’s social media posts on Sunday that first showed New Mexico’s name altered on a map to be “New America” and then later expressed enthusiasm for such a change by writing: “So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State. Wow, I Love It!!!”

New Mexico state and federal officials swiftly rebuked Trump’s post, with U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who leads the Thursday letter, writing on social media that, “It’s New Mexico, always has been and always will be. Just like how you’ll always be a sinvergüenza and corrupt.”

Last year Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) by executive order and, more recently, renamed Lake Ontario (Lake America) by the same mechanism.

The letter, signed by the rest of the delegation, all Democrats — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and U.S. Reps. Melanie Stansbury, Teresa Leger Fernández and Gabe Vasquez — notes that Trump lacks the authority to rename the state, which can only be done through a state constitutional amendment.

The letter notes, however, that Apple and Google updated their maps to reflect Trump’s new names for Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario.

“This is disappointing but unsurprising,” the letter says. “Both of your companies have significant business interests before the federal government. These include antitrust enforcement, tariffs, regulation of artificial intelligence and online platforms, and federal contracting opportunities.”

The letter also notes the $24.5 million Google paid to settle Trump’s lawsuit over his YouTube suspension following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and both companies’ corporate donations to Trump’s ballroom project.

“Because of this history, we ask each of you to publicly commit that Apple Maps and Google Maps will continue to identify the State of New Mexico as New Mexico, regardless of what the President posts on social media, what executive order he attempts to issue, or what pressure he puts on your companies,” the letter says, and asks for that commitment by Sept. 19.

New Mexico’s “name has belonged to the people of New Mexico since before the United States existed,” the letter concludes. “It should not become a political football to be negotiated between an unhinged President and two of the most powerful technology companies in the world.”

Source NM has requests for comment into both Google and Apple and will update this story as necessary.