Early childhood education advocates look for stopgap funding as they await a decision from Congress - By Shaun Griswold, Source New Mexico
Early childhood education in New Mexico needs a bridge that officials say will cost almost $154 million.
This money could cover day care and preschool costs, help with recruiting staff and boost aid for working parents in the state until Congress passes a bill allowing New Mexico to move money from the Land Grant Permanent Fund into early childhood education, a measure that New Mexican voters overwhelmingly approved by passing Constitutional Amendment 1 during the November election.
New Mexico Early Childhood Education & Care Department Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky requested the “bridge loan” as a one-time appropriation from the state’s General Fund on top of a $28.3 million request to increase the overall department’s budget. In total, ECECD requested a budget of more than $453.6 million to operate facilities for children as young as newborns up to 5-years-old.
This budget will also include federal dollars and revenue from a trust fund that started with more than $320 million passed by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in 2020, the year after she signed the law creating the agency now responsible for early childhood education.
That trust will increase annually when Congress approves the measure passed by voters in the state to include more money from revenues generated by business on state lands.
With all those funding sources, Groginsky said the bridge loan will help maintain the agency’s goals to provide free or low-cost child care and pre-K for every New Mexican family.
“We didn’t really expand,” she said. “We use federal funds, but we’re asking for a bridge loan to get us to the future distributions from the trust fund. So we’re not expanding in one year. We are here, and we want to continue without interruption.”
Some members of the Legislative Finance Committee, who have met all week to listen to state agencies asking for higher budgets, sparked some hesitation about the request for early childhood education.
Sen. William Burt (R-Alamogordo) wondered when the agency would meet the needs of his rural constituents in Chaves, Lincoln and Otero Counties.
“Unfortunately, those kids aren’t near proximity to agencies and facilities that can provide some of the services that they may need,” he said.
Groginsky said the goal is to get an ECECD resource office set up in each New Mexico county. To date, she said the agency has worked with local school districts to set up child care facilities in public schools in places such as Gallup and Clayton.
“We can build the support for families, because families can’t wait,” she said. “Children are born, they need care. We need a workforce to come back to work, and we can’t get them there without access to child care, early care and education.”
Eduviges Hernandez is a community organizer in rural New Mexico with the group Somos Accíon. She came to Santa Fe from Hobbs with several dozen families and their children to witness the meeting and show support for the early childhood education budget.
The biggest issue she sees in setting up enough centers for every child in the state is a lack of quality pay for teachers and staff.
“I’m frustrated, because I can’t believe that we need to fight more for their money to come to our rural communities,” she said. “We’ve been hearing the teachers say that they don’t have too much help in the schools. The classrooms are very saturated.”
She said centers can have up to 15 children per educator, and bathrooms and other facilities need major repairs.
Similar issues are present for early childhood educators in Bernalillo County. Vanessa Rogers said she is in her 25th year working with the youngest New Mexicans and is excited at the amount of investment going toward early childhood education, but the need for better pay is causing staffing issues.
She works with a center run by YDI in the South Valley that serves predominantly Hispanic and Native American children. Pay at her facility starts at minimum wage, set to go up to $12 an hour in New Mexico in 2023, and staff can see higher salaries based on experience or licensure. However, most are making under $15. She wants to see at least a $4 raise for all employees.
“We are losing incredible teachers every single day. And cooks, maintenance workers and staff that are there to help these amazing kids,” she said holding back tears. “And then the parents are like, ‘Where did the teacher go? She was amazing.’ I tell them, I’’m sorry, they have to go somewhere where they can make more money.’”
Rogers said she wants lawmakers to approve the bridge loan to get money to the schools and meet the will of the voters now.
“We’re preparing doctors, lawyers, you know, a whole array of kids for the future,” she said. “This time from birth to five is critical. It’s when they learn the most, but the pay for the teachers is the least. What does it say about New Mexico when we’re not providing the people who are preparing the future with adequate wages?”
Former New Mexico governor to attend Navajo Tech graduation - Associated Press
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is scheduled to appear at Navajo Technical University's graduation ceremonies Friday.
Richardson, who served as governor from 2003-2011, is a special guest speaker at the graduation with 72 students receiving their degrees.
Navajo Nation President-elect Buu Nygren will deliver the keynote address at the graduation and join Richardson in gifting 120 pairs of athletic shoes to children in need at three schools in Lake Valley, Torreon and Crownpoint.
The shoe donations are part of the COVID-19 Navajo Families Relief Fund which has distributed food, water, diapers, dog food and emergency supplies to help tribal members since 2020.
The fund also has donated medical supplies to eight Navajo Nation hospitals and partnered with a foundation to deliver nearly 1,200 pairs of quality shoes to needy youth in 13 tribal communities in New Mexico.
US plans for more migrant releases when asylum limits end - By Rebecca Santana And Elliot Spagat Associated Press
The Department of Homeland Security said more migrants may be released into the United States to pursue immigration cases when Trump-era asylum restrictions end next week, when a Texas congressman says some border officials estimate about 50,000 migrants could be waiting to cross into the U.S.
In one of its most detailed assessments ahead of the major policy shift, the department reported faster processing for migrants in custody on the border, more temporary detention tents, staffing surges and increased criminal prosecutions of smugglers, noting progress on a plan announced in April.
But the seven-page document dated Tuesday included no major structural changes amid unusually large numbers of migrants entering the country. More are expected with the end of Title 42 authority, under which migrants have been denied rights to seek asylum more than 2.5 million times on grounds of preventing spread of COVID-19.
A federal judge in Washington ordered Title 42 to end Dec. 21 but Republican-led states asked an appeals court to keep it in place. The Biden administration has also challenged some aspects of the ruling, though it doesn't oppose letting the rule lapse next week. The legal back-and-forth could go down to the wire.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas traveled this week to El Paso, Texas, which witnessed a large influx Sunday after becoming the busiest corridor for illegal crossings in October. El Paso has been a magnet for Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Cubans, Colombians, Ecuadoreans and other nationalities.
The geographic shift to Texas' westernmost reaches was likely a result of smugglers' calculations on the best route, said Nicolas Palazzo, an attorney at Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso.
Like other advocacy groups that work directly with directly with Homeland Security, Palazzo said he has had no conversations with the department about post-Title 42 planning. One key question: How will authorities process migrants who have long been waiting to seek asylum?
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said Customs and Border Protection officials told him Wednesday that about 50,000 migrants are believed to be waiting to cross once Title 42 is lifted.
Authorities plan to admit those seeking asylum who go through ports of entry but return to Mexico those who cross illegally between official crossings, Cuellar said in an interview. It was unclear how they will return nationalities that Mexico won't accept — like Cubans and Nicaraguans — and are difficult to send home due to strained diplomatic relations and other challenges.
Administration officials are developing additional measures, which Cuellar said they would not disclose.
"I think the first week is going to be a little bit of chaos," he said.
U.S. officials in El Paso are currently exempting 70 migrants daily from Title 42, said Palazzo, who questioned how officials will handle more people.
Unless they raise processing capacity significantly, migrants who go through official crossings may be told to wait a year or so for an appointment, said Palazzo. "Realistically can they tell me with a straight face that they expect people to wait that long?"
In its latest assessment, CBP said government agencies "have been managing levels well beyond the capacity for which their infrastructure was designed and resourced, meaning additional increases will create further pressure and potential overcrowding in specific locations along the border."
More single adults and families with young children may be released into communities with instructions to appear in immigration court without help of nongovernmental groups or financial sponsors, the department said.
The department didn't indicate how many migrants may cross the border when Title 42 ends. Earlier this year, they expected as many as 18,000 a day, a staggering number. In May, migrants were stopped an average of 7,800 times a day, the peak month of Joe Biden's presidency.
In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, migrants were stopped 2.38 million times, up 37% from 1.73 million times the year before. The annual total surpassed 2 million for the first time.
The numbers reflect deteriorating economic and political conditions in some countries, relative strength of the U.S. economy and uneven enforcement of Trump-era asylum restrictions.
NM officials to seek millions for a 50-year water plan that hasn’t yet been revealed - Megan Gleason, Source New Mexico
While human-caused climate change continues to strain New Mexico’s water resources, state officials say they want lawmakers to dedicate $8.25 million for a 50-year water plan that’s still being drafted.
The Interstate Stream Commission, a division of the Office of the State Engineer, has been putting together a plan since 2020 that offers solutions to water issues over five decades caused by a warming globe. The proposal has not yet been released to the public.
State Engineer Mike Hamman went over the request with lawmakers on Tuesday. His office’s proposed budget includes $6 million for rolling out the water plan. Although the office is asking for the money to be allocated during the next session, spokesperson Maggie Fitzgerald said it would be pieced out and come down over three years through fiscal year 2026.
On top of that, Hamman asked lawmakers for $750,000 annually in the same three-year period for staffing and other resources. In total, the State Engineer’s Office is looking for $8.25 million for implementing the plan.
Plus, New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney told lawmakers in a separate session on Tuesday about a request for another $5.5 million related to a recommendation in the 50-year plan for water reuse strategies.
Rep. Nathan Small (D-Las Cruces) asked the state engineer for more information about how all the money will be spent — and about any other requests that could come in — but Hamman couldn’t provide many specifics, he said, since the plan is still being developed. There are detailed recommendations in the draft, Hamman added, but it’s under review by the Governor’s Office.
Hopefully, Hamman said, more details will be ironed out in the next few weeks, though there still isn’t a date set for the 50-year water plan’s public release. Fitzgerald said the office hopes to unveil a draft before the end of the year.
Climate change adaptation and resource resiliency are critically important, Fitzgerald said in an emailed statement, “and we work closely with the Governor’s Office to ensure that our planning work meets her vision for the state’s future sustainability and resiliency.”
Sen. Bill Tallman (D-Albuquerque) asked whether the plan anticipates that the state will have to make tough decisions on how to allocate water, like deciding between residential or agricultural or manufacturing uses. After Hamman said the goal is to distribute water equitably no matter what, Tallman asked “You’re not anticipating in the next 50 years a real crisis as far as the supply of water?”
Hamman didn’t completely answer, though he acknowledged that climate change will continue to deplete water sources in the state. He said New Mexico’s water infrastructure — from aquifers to stormwater injection wells — needs to be protected and updated to meet those challenges. And all of that is laid out in the plan, he assured.
“We’ve got to figure out how to readdress our 20th century infrastructure,” he said, “to be prepared for the 21st century type of water supply that we have.”
Recounts for NM House seats certified, no results change – By Nash Jones, KUNM News
New Mexico’s 2022 election is officially over after the state Canvassing Board certified the results of two automatic recounts Wednesday.
After certifying the rest of the results Nov. 29, the board ordered recounts in districts 32 and 68 because the margin of victory was so slim, with less than 50 votes separating the candidates in both races.
The recounts, held last week at the county level, did not change the results of either race.
Spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office Alex Curtas says it’s “a testament to the accuracy and integrity of New Mexico’s vote counting process” that no automatic recount — since they were established in 2008 — has changed an election result.
The count in southwest New Mexico’s district 32 remained identical tothe original, with Republican Jennifer Jones maintaining a 46 vote lead over Democratic incumbent Candie Sweetser. Sweetser is now officiallyone of only two incumbents to lose her House seat this election. The other was Republican Jane Powdrell-Culbert.
Democratic Representative-elect Charlotte Little’s lead over Republican candidate Robert Moss in the Albuquerque-area district 68 shrunk by one vote in the recount.
The State Canvassing Board includes Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Shannon Bacon who was absent from the recount certification meeting, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
‘We need someone to stand up for us’: NM fails patients hounded by medical debt collectors - Austin Fisher,Source New Mexico
As a father of two lay in bed with excruciating pain in his back, he wasn’t sure where it came from, but he felt like he had nowhere to take it.
His girlfriend and mother told him he needed to go to the hospital and see a doctor.
“I can’t,” he told them. “I don’t have insurance.”
But they insisted, and he was driven to the emergency room at Mountain View Regional Medical Center down the street from his house in Las Cruces in October 2021. He was there for four hours, he said, got some pain medication, and was sent home.
More than a year later, a postal worker came to his door telling him he needed to show his identification and sign for a package. Inside was court paperwork from the hospital, suing him for not paying the bill, which Mountain View said totaled over $4,000.
“I just went into panic mode,” he said. “I didn’t know they could do this. They didn’t even call me and say, ‘Hey, make a payment.’ Nothing.”
The hospital disputes this in court filings, and attorneys say before the lawsuit was filed, Mountain View’s collection agency sent him letters and called him.
The patient declined to be named because of an ongoing lawsuit, and to protect his privacy and safety.
His income of about $300 per week as a plumber, according to court records, should have qualified him for protection from this lawsuit under a New Mexico law passed in 2021 meant to protect people with low incomes from being sued or facing aggressive collection agencies over medical debt.
But the state is doing little to enforce its new law, and two patient-led lawsuits allege health care companies keep suing people anyway.
The plumber said he was convinced that if he did not comply with the Las Cruces hospital’s demands, and the case reached a judgment, his credit would be ruined. The hospital is calling on the court to force him to pay it, plus interest.
So he sold his truck — the only thing he owned of any value, he said — to prepare for potentially having to pay a judgment.
“He sold this asset to prepare for what he saw as an inevitability,” said Nicolas Cordova, health care director at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.
Other clients divert money their family needs for housing, clothes and fuel when faced with these lawsuits, Cordova said.
“That just shows the irreparable damage these kinds of unlawful lawsuits can impose on people and families who should not have been subjected to those lawsuits at all,” Cordova said.
Everyone should be able to access medical care they need without the fear of devastating medical debt, Cordova said.
COUNTING ON IGNORANCE
Unpaid medical bills have become big business, with hospitals selling batches of debts to collection agencies for millions at a go.
Nearly one out of every five people in New Mexico have medical debt sold to collection agencies.
Over 200,000 people in the state do not have health insurance. For those folks, Cordova said, one of two things usually happens: You either avoid health care when you need it, or if you get health care, you might be charged unfair amounts, leaving you with a stack of unaffordable bills.
Hospitals in New Mexico are suing hundreds of patients each year to collect. These lawsuits can result in hospitals garnishing people’s wages, reporting adverse information to someone’s creditors, or even forcing them to potentially sell their assets, diverting money from their basic needs, Cordova said. All for a case they should not have been subjected to in the first place.
Faced with that dire situation, the New Mexico Legislature passed the Patients’ Debt Collection Protection Act, which puts the legal burden on hospitals and other health care companies to first check someone’s income to see if they are “indigent” before suing them or sending collectors their way.
If you’re being sued over medical debt, the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance published the forms needed to prove that someone has a low income in January 2022.
“The hospital knows this is the law, and it has been in effect since 2021,” Cordova said. “And yet they’re relying on everyday New Mexicans not understanding their rights.”
Since the law went into effect in July 2021, Mountain View has unlawfully sued over 260 patients without considering their income, according to a class action lawsuit.
The state Human Services Department told hospitals in November 2021 to comply with the law, they must first look at income before billing someone for an emergency or medically necessary care. The state issued rules putting the law into practice a month later.
HUNDREDS OF LAWSUITS
It’s hard enough already not having enough money to go to the doctor, the Las Cruces plumber said, but it’s even worse to be sued for seeing one. The most frustrating part was not knowing who to call, he said, and he felt relief when he met Cordova.
“We need someone to stand up for us,” he said. “I feel bad for all the people that are still wondering what to do. It’s hard to find someone standing up for us.”
Cordova said the class action case against Mountain View has two goals: one, ensure the hospital follows the law, whether that means not filing lawsuits against patients with low incomes at all, or meeting the legal burden of looking into it first; and two, reverse any kind of downstream impacts of those unlawfully filed lawsuits.
It’s not just Mountain View. In a review of court records, the Center on Law and Poverty found more than 700 cases where hospitals or their collection agencies sued patients with low incomes in state courts across New Mexico, even after the law took effect.
Another separate class action lawsuit accuses the Credit Bureau of Farmington, on behalf of three health care companies in San Juan County, of filing “several hundred” debt collection lawsuits against low-income patients over the last four years.
WHO WILL ENFORCE THE LAW?
Nora Meyers Sackett, press secretary for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, said the governor “expects all state laws to be followed and adhered to, including legislation she was proud to sign that is intended to protect low-income New Mexicans.”
“The executive is not a law enforcement body, and we wouldn’t be able to comment on a litigation matter that does not involve our office,” Meyers Sackett said in an emailed statement on Dec. 2.
But the state’s top prosecutor — the Attorney General’s Office — is not doing much to make sure hospitals and collection companies comply with the medical debt law.
Cholla Khoury, chief deputy attorney general, told lawmakers on Nov. 29 the language in the new statute is too vague for the AG’s Office to take health care companies to court.
She said an early draft of the law explicitly linked it to the state’s Unfair Practices Act, a consumer protection law meant to shield people from unfair, deceptive or unconscionable trade practices. That language was stripped from the measure, Khoury said, “which means our enforcement power and our scope is severely limited.”
But the Center on Law and Poverty is arguing in its class action lawsuit that breaking the new law in these circumstances also counts as a violation of the Unfair Practices Act.
Courts have interpreted a list of what practices might count as unfair or deceptive as “non-exhaustive.” So even if a specific practice isn’t listed, it could still be illegal.
Khouri urged lawmakers to amend the new medical debt law to connect it to the Unfair Practices Act during the next legislative session that starts in January.
Later in the same hearing, Rep. Gail Chasey (D-Albuquerque) asked Cordova to weigh in on whether this change is necessary to enforce the law.
“With due respect, I don’t think that is necessary at this time,” Cordova said. “The Patients’ Debt Collection Protection Act explicitly says that the Attorney General’s Office can enforce the protections.”
Indeed, the law itself reads: “The attorney general shall enforce the provisions of the Patients’ Debt Collection Protection Act.”
The AG’s Office can argue to a judge right now that a violation of the new law also counts as a violation of the Unfair Practices Act, Cordova said.
One of the law’s three sponsors in the Roundhouse confirmed Cordova’s position.
Sen. Katy Duhigg (D-Albuquerque) said in an interview there is no need to make violations of the new law a “per se” violation of the Unfair Practices Act. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard the bill twice specifically to ensure it wasn’t an issue, she said.
Duhigg said she would be very wary of reopening the law to further changes unless it was absolutely essential, “because it’s likely to be weakened if we did.”
‘POSSIBLE FURTHER ACTION’
“Our office utilizes the current rule of law to target predatory debt collection,” wrote Jerri Mares, a spokesperson for the attorney general.
Still, few members of the public even know any protections exist, Khoury and Duhigg both pointed out. And the AG’s Office “cannot act as a private attorney for individual citizens,” Mares said.
UPDATE
This story was updated on Wednesday, Dec. 14, at 12:15 p.m. to reflect that Source NM reporter Austin Fisher asked about enforcement actions by the AG’s Office on Dec. 1.
Outgoing Attorney General Hector Balderas established the Advocacy and Intervention Division that “conducts a risk assessment of complaints and may properly refer high-risk complaints to our litigation team for their further review and determination,” Mares said.
The AG’s Office rolled out a complaint system, netting 128 complaints about aggressive debt collection by hospitals that would be subject to the new medical debt law. Roughly half of those complaints actually described potential violations, Khouri said. Six are “under review for possible further action,” Mares wrote.
After a request on Dec. 1 about enforcement actions pursuant to the Act, Mares had not provided an example before Tuesday.
Mares wrote the new law didn’t give the AG’s Office any case agents to enforce it, and two to three agents “would be an adequate start.”
If the attorney general seeks more funding from the Legislature to beef up their consumer protection work, “We will be happy to support that advocacy,” Cordova said.
HOSPITALS SECRETIVE ABOUT HOW THEY SPEND PUBLIC MONEY
Along with requiring hospitals to screen out low-income patients before taking people to court over debt, the new law mandates they report to the Human Services Department each year on how they are using public funds meant to cover ambulance rides and hospital stays.
The top five New Mexico hospitals who are filing these debt collection lawsuits are Mountain View Regional Medical Center in Las Cruces, Carlsbad Medical Center, the Credit Bureau of Farmington (for debts owed to San Juan Regional Medical Center and two other companies), Lea Regional Hospital, and the Otero County Hospital Association, according to the Center on Law and Poverty’s data.
None of those five hospitals have submitted any reports on how they are spending public money meant to cover care for low-income patients, according to HSD spokesperson Marina Piña.
“We have not received reporting for this act from the providers stated in your inquiry,” Piña said via email on Dec. 2.
On Friday, Piña wrote the department had just finished working with the New Mexico Hospital Association on a template for the reports after starting that process in late 2021. All hospitals and other health care companies who receive money from Medicaid will be required to report how they are spending the money on Jan. 6 and must report again at the end of every fiscal year, she wrote.
Cordova said it’s important to not leave regulation in the hands of the entities being regulated. The department should issue rules or some kind of specific, clear requirements for these hospitals to turn over that information.
“Otherwise, we’re going to be in situations where it’s entirely discretionary for the hospitals,” Cordova said. “That’s what we’ve seen for the past year-and-a-half.”
US plans for more migrant releases when asylum limits end - By Rebecca Santana and Elliot Spagat Associated Press
The Department of Homeland Security said more migrants may be released into the United States to pursue immigration cases when Trump-era asylum restrictions end next week in one of its most detailed assessments ahead of the major policy shift.
The department reported faster processing for migrants in custody on the border, more temporary detention tents, staffing surges and increased criminal prosecutions of smugglers, noting progress on a plan announced in April.
But the seven-page document dated Tuesday included no major structural changes amid unusually large numbers of migrants entering the country. More are expected with the end of Title 42 authority, under which migrants have been denied rights to seek asylum more than 2.5 million times on grounds of preventing spread of COVID-19.
A federal judge in Washington ordered Title 42 to end Dec. 21 but Republican-led states asked an appeals court to keep it in place. The Biden administration has also challenged some aspects of the ruling, though it doesn't oppose letting the rule lapse next week. The legal back-and-forth could go down to the wire.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas traveled this week to El Paso, Texas, which witnessed a large influx Sunday after becoming the busiest corridor for illegal crossings in October. El Paso has been a magnet for Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Cubans, Colombians, Ecuadoreans and other nationalities.
The geographic shift to Texas' westernmost reaches was likely a result of smugglers' calculations on the best route, said Nicolas Palazzo, an attorney at Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso.
Like other advocacy groups that work directly with directly with Homeland Security, Palazzo said he has had no conversations with the department about post-Title 42 planning. One key question: How will authorities process migrants who have long been waiting to seek asylum?
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said Customs and Border Protection officials told him Wednesday that about 50,000 migrants are believed to be waiting to cross once Title 42 is lifted.
Authorities plan to admit those seeking asylum who go through ports of entry but return to Mexico those who cross illegally between official crossings, Cuellar said in an interview. It was unclear how they will return nationalities that Mexico won't accept — like Cubans and Nicaraguans — and are difficult to send home due to strained diplomatic relations and other challenges.
Administration officials are developing additional measures, which Cuellar said they would not disclose.
"I think the first week is going to be a little bit of chaos," he said.
U.S. officials in El Paso are currently exempting 70 migrants daily from Title 42, said Palazzo, who questioned how officials will handle more people.
Unless they raise processing capacity significantly, migrants who go through official crossings may be told to wait a year or so for an appointment, said Palazzo. "Realistically can they tell me with a straight face that they expect people to wait that long?"
In its latest assessment, CBP said government agencies "have been managing levels well beyond the capacity for which their infrastructure was designed and resourced, meaning additional increases will create further pressure and potential overcrowding in specific locations along the border."
More single adults and families with young children may be released into communities with instructions to appear in immigration court without help of nongovernmental groups or financial sponsors, the department said.
The department didn't indicate how many migrants may cross the border when Title 42 ends. Earlier this year, they expected as many as 18,000 a day, a staggering number. In May, migrants were stopped an average of 7,800 times a day, the peak month of Joe Biden's presidency.
In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, migrants were stopped 2.38 million times, up 37% from 1.73 million times the year before. The annual total surpassed 2 million for the first time.
The numbers reflect deteriorating economic and political conditions in some countries, relative strength of the U.S. economy and uneven enforcement of Trump-era asylum restrictions.
Deaf students in New Mexico connect reading to horses - By Claudia L. Silva Santa Fe New Mexican
Liam Mohan-Litchfield twisted and manipulated his tiny hands, using sign language to read before a white miniature horse named Thor.
"I read a book about my shoes," 7-year-old Liam signed to an interpreter.
He was one of eight students from the New Mexico School for the Deaf who traveled to My Little Horse Listener therapy facility in Los Cerrillos on Thursday to improve their reading skills while meeting a group of pint-sized equines.
"I just really want all of them to have positive experiences with reading," their teacher, Kim Burkholder, said during an interview. "For the kids who are completely deaf, reading in English is their second language, and it's a struggle for many of them. And so the more positive experiences they can have with reading, the better."
Burkholder explained that the students' conditions vary, with some being able to hear with the help of a hearing aid while others are completely deaf.
She said many of the students are also late language learners, meaning they didn't learn to sign until later in their lives.
My Little Horse Listener is a nonprofit equine therapy organization that uses horses and other hoofed mammals to connect with people through activities that strengthen relationship-building skills.
It offers a few different types of services, from an overnight stay with their animals, to domestic violence recovery sessions, where victims learn to regain trust.
Liz Delfs, the organization's founder and executive director, said she also works with families that have been torn apart by drug abuse, helping parents and children form new bonds.
Delfs said over 500 kids have taken part in the organization's various programs, including some with hearing impairments. She soon realized deaf children were able to make connections with these animals that also rely on gestures to communicate.
"Horses kind of live in a nonverbal world, and they're really dependent on hand signals and so forth," Delf said during an interview. "It's kind of fascinating how the horses and the children interact.
"The kids are just so excited when they see the horses, and it really is about the relationship the child forms with the horse. It actually showed us they were capable of doing so much more for people," she added.
Delfs said the organization also teach what she likes to call "horse wisdom," or lessons about the animals and how they can help people.
During the program, Delfs introduced the students to their four hoofed counselors: Serafina the miniature donkey, Mellie the mule, and the miniature horses Hot Dog and Thor.
She taught students, whose ages ranged from 6 to 8 years old, how to pet the equines and how they communicate with people without using words.
"They use their bodies to tell us what they want," Delfs told the students. "It's our job to always be looking at their bodies and trying to figure out what they want."
She taught them how each of the animals has their own unique personality.
Thor is the leader of the herd, who always looks over his pals. Serafina is the gentlest of the bunch, while Mellie was a bit of a wild card with a penchant for chewing on paper. His handlers called Hot Dog the comedian, who was undoubtedly the favorite of the bunch.
"Hot Dog is so cute," said 7-year-old Izzy Onstine.
Curious students asked questions about the animals, like "How much do they poop?"
"Eight times a day," Delfs answered.
After reading their books, the young pupils gathered for snacks and drew pictures of their new equine friends.
Izzy said she plans to ask her parents to bring her back to My Little Horse Listener, even though she lives very far away.