Native of Mexico in NJ: People appear confused! (8,6)

I believe the answer is:

jalapeno pepper

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'native of mexico' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'nj people appear confused' is the wordplay.
'confused' is an anagram indicator.
'nj'+'people'+'appear'='njpeopleappear'
'njpeopleappear' anagrammed gives 'JALAPENO PEPPER'.

'in' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for jalapeno pepper that I've seen is " Hot spice".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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