Five Democratic lawmakers from New Mexico have formally asked Apple and Google to reject any proposal to rename their state to “New America,” a suggestion floated by President Trump on social media over the weekend. In a letter sent Thursday to Apple CEO John Ternus and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the legislators demanded that the tech giants publicly commit to keeping “New Mexico” on their mapping platforms for all users.
The letter comes after Trump posted a doctored map of the state on Truth Social, with “Mexico” crossed out and replaced by “America.” The president has previously pushed for renaming geographic features, including the Gulf of Mexico, which now appears as “Gulf of America” for U.S. users on both Apple Maps and Google Maps. More recently, both platforms renamed Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for American users, following an executive order tied to the administration’s trade dispute with Canada. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said Apple made that change after Trump directly contacted the company.
The bipartisan group of signatories includes Senators Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich, along with Representatives Melanie Stansbury, Teresa Leger Fernández, and Gabe Vasquez. In their letter, they argue that the president lacks the legal authority to unilaterally rename a state. “The United States Constitution does not give the President the power to unilaterally rename a state and an executive order cannot amend New Mexico’s Constitution or change the legal identity of our state,” they wrote. “Changing New Mexico’s name would require changing our state Constitution through New Mexico’s own constitutional process.”
The lawmakers also referenced the recent precedent set by the map companies, noting that “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.”
They further emphasized the deep historical roots of the name, writing, “Again, the name has belonged to the people of New Mexico since before the United States existed. 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.”
The Hill has reached out to Apple and Google for comment. This dispute over mapping names comes amid broader tensions between the Trump administration and the tech sector, with some Democratic donors now returning to the party after a period of hesitation, as recent reports show. Meanwhile, the administration’s aggressive posture on trade and naming has also raised questions about executive overreach, a theme that resonates in other state-federal standoffs.
The letter underscores a growing pattern of political pressure on tech companies to align their products with presidential preferences, a dynamic that has drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle. While some Republicans have cheered the renaming efforts as patriotic, Democrats and legal scholars argue that such changes bypass established legal procedures and set a dangerous precedent for corporate compliance with political whims.
For now, both Apple and Google have remained silent on the New Mexico request, but their recent actions on other geographic names suggest they may be weighing the political costs of noncompliance. As the debate continues, the people of New Mexico—and the lawmakers who represent them—are making clear that they will not cede their state’s identity without a fight.
