Feds accuse Albuquerque police, State Police and Bernalillo County deputies in DWI racketeering case - By Matthew Reisen and Colleen Heild, Albuquerque Journal
Officers and deputies with the Albuquerque Police Department, Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office and New Mexico State Police worked with an attorney and his private investigator in a "DWI enterprise" to get drunken driving cases dismissed in exchange for money and other favors, according to newly filed federal records.
Ricardo "Rick" Mendez, 53, who has been the private investigator for attorney Thomas Clear III, was charged with racketeering, bribery of an agent receiving federal funds and interference with commerce by extortion under color of official right and conspiracy in the case.
Mendez pleaded guilty in the case on Friday.
His attorney could not be reached Friday.
The filings in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque were the first mention of the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office or State Police being involved in the corruption case, which came to light just over a year ago after FBI agents raided Clear's office and the homes of several current and former APD DWI officers.
Last year APD leaders placed officers Harvey Johnson, Honorio Alba Jr., Joshua Montaño, Nelson Ortiz, Daren DeAguero, Neill Elsman and Lt. Justin Hunt on leave in connection with the case. All seven resigned before they were supposed to be interviewed as part of the Internal Affairs investigation.
Additionally, APD Cmdr. Mark Landavazo was placed on leave, and eventually terminated, for violating department policies uncovered due to a separate investigation that came out of APD's internal probe into the DWI corruption.
None of the APD officers or any other law enforcement officers have been charged in the case, according to online federal court records. Clear, who is named in the court filings as a co-conspirator, also had not been charged as of Friday afternoon.
Parallel to the criminal investigation, APD created an internal affairs task force to conduct all administrative investigations into alleged misconduct by current or past members of the DWI Unit.
The findings of the inquiry will be submitted to the superintendent of police reform to determine whether APD policies were followed.
In the fallout of the investigation and because the officers’ credibility potentially could be questioned, 2nd Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman’s office dismissed more than 200 DWI cases that had been filed and were pending at the time of the FBI searches.
Heinrich announces he won’t run for NM governor in 2026 - By Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich announced early Friday that he would not be running for New Mexico governor, saying the “stakes are simply too high” for him to leave his post in Washington, D.C.
Speculation had been growing since at least mid-December, when Axios published a story teeing up a potential primary between Heinrich and Deb Haaland, the first Indigenous woman to be Interior Secretary and a former New Mexico congresswoman.
Heinrich has demurred in multiple interviews since then about whether he intended to run, saying he would make the decision that was best in consultation with his family. His campaign ended that speculation in a news release early Friday morning.
“After careful consideration and many conversations with my family, constituents and colleagues, I’ve decided to remain in the United States Senate. It’s clear to me that New Mexico needs a strong voice in Washington now more than ever—the stakes are simply too high,” he wrote.
Heinrich cited President Donald Trump’s “alarming actions” this week as reason he is staying committed to the Senate, including trying to undo birthright citizenship, pardoning violent Jan. 6 defendants and rolling back environmental protections.
“From fighting back against these harmful policies to defending the progress we’ve made lowering costs for working families, growing our economy and keeping our communities safe, the Senate is where I believe I can have the most impact,” Heinrich wrote.
Heinrich was first elected to the Senate in 2013. He was re-elected in November by a wide margin.
Haaland has not announced her intention to run for governor. She did not address her political future in a short speech at The Peoples March Jan. 19 in Albuquerque, apart from telling a crowd of hundreds of cheering supporters that she would “leave the ladder down” for other Indigenous women in politics now that the “door is open” for them.
“I want people who care about a better future to run for office, and I’ll be there to make sure that they do,” she said.
The election to replace Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, takes place Nov. 3, 2026.
ICE confrontation in Ruidoso rattles Mescalero Apache Tribe - By Nicole Maxwell, New Mexico Political Report
Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents questioned a Mescalero Apache tribal member Wednesday and asked for a passport, according to Mescalero Apache President Thora Walsh-Padilla.
Walsh-Padilla said in a statement that the incident was verified Thursday afternoon.
“While this is the only incident we have been able to verify, Tribal leadership is actively working with the New Mexico Congressional Delegation to ensure that the rights of Tribal Members are protected,” Walsh-Padilla said in the statement. “To be safe, be aware of your surroundings, let family members/friends know where you are, and keep identification with you at all times.”
ICE agents questioned a family standing in line in front of a Mescalero Apache tribal member and the family was escorted outside, according to the statement.
An ICE agent approached the tribal member in Spanish to which the tribal member replied they spoke English.
Names were not released.
The ICE agent then asked the tribal member for a passport and in response, the tribal member presented their driver’s license and tribal identification to the ICE agent who then ended questioning and left, according to the statement.
“We want to ensure that Mescalero Apache Tribal members can effectively communicate their rights and concerns in relation to federal agents, fostering resilience and solidarity among tribal members,” a Mescalero Apache news release states.
The incident follows President Donald Trump’s announcement that expanded immigration enforcement activities were on the way.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez issued guidance on Wednesday outlining protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren warned Navajo people living in urban areas about potential interactions with immigration agents.
Requests for comment from ICE about the incident were not returned.
Fear of immigration raids prompts Navajo President to warn tribal members in urban areas - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The widespread fear of unannounced immigration raids by federal law enforcement in the several days since President Donald Trump took office has prompted a local tribal leader to issue warnings and advice to tribal citizens.
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren issued a statement on social media on Wednesday evening directed toward Navajo people living in urban areas. He cited “unconfirmed reports” that Navajo Nation citizens were being questioned and detained by immigration officials.
“Please be safe, aware of your surroundings, and carry valid forms of identification with you including your Certificate of Indian Birth,” he wrote.
The announcement went on to tell Navajo citizens outside of the reservation to record interactions with immigration agents, if possible, and report the encounter to the local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, among other tips.
His advice comes as other local leaders have tried to give guidance about what to do, what to say and how to fight back against the specter of mass deportations across the state. The New Mexico Attorney General issued guidance earlier this week to officials and employees at sensitive areas like churches, hospitals and schools, along with law enforcement.
On Jan. 17, three days before Trump was inaugurated, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe issued a series of public service announcements, including telling parish leaders that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials can only enter non-public areas with a lawful, signed judicial warrant. Administrative warrants issued by ICE officials are not enough, according to the guidance.
Nygren said his office was looking into the matter and would release more information when possible. A spokesperson did not respond to a request from Source New Mexico on Thursday evening about one such rumor. A Navajo Nation Council Delegate also told Source New Mexico in a text he’d heard rumors but hadn’t received “anything definite.”
Citizens of the Navajo Nation are members of a sovereign tribe that existed in the area now called the United States since time immemorial, and would not be subject to any of the executive orders Trump issued related to immigration, including an effort to revoke birthright citizenship protections for those born here to parents from other countries.
Dem legislators push bill taking on private equity in health care - By Susan Morée, New Mexico Political Report
A bill expected to be filed this session aimed at providing oversight of private equity investment in New Mexico healthcare may not be a panacea for the state’s health care worker shortage, but advocates and the bill’s sponsor say it’s a start.
The Healthcare Consolidation Act, which will be co-sponsored by two Democrats — state Sen. Katy Duhigg, of Albuquerque, and House Majority Whip Reena Szczepanski, of Santa Fe — would set up a mechanism requiring the potential purchaser of a health care entity or facility to go through a review process by the New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance. Insurance Superintendent Alice Kane told NM Political Report the bill is aimed to ensure communities don’t see a loss of service or access, not to interfere with the purchases.
According to Duhigg, private equity firms currently own nearly 40% of New Mexico’s health care facilities and the expansion of private equity into the medical sphere is a growing concern in both the state and the nation. Duhigg said she and Szczepanski are filing the bill because the state lacks a statute to provide oversight of private equity transactions when they occur. The nonprofit watchdog Private Equity Stakeholder Project ranks New Mexico as having a 100% risk score for private equity in healthcare.
Duhigg said the consolidation act would not prohibit private equity purchases in healthcare in New Mexico but it would create much needed transparency.
“New Mexico has absolutely nothing in place to even be aware of these transactions, let alone meaningful oversight over them,” Duhigg said.
She said a bill passed last year was “a band-aid” that lacked both transparency requirements and an enforcement mechanism. She said the bill she’s sponsoring this session is a much more comprehensive bill.
Matt Parr, communications director for the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, told NM Political Report the goal is to increase profit margins when private equity firms purchase hospitals. He said, typically, private equity firms hold a healthcare acquisition for about five to seven years and often cut services, the number of employees and require physicians to see more patients each day to increase profit.
He said another private equity tactic is to sell the land a hospital occupies, then charge the hospital rent.
“The private equity firm gets the money from the sale and requires the hospital to lease the land, which adds to operating expenses which leads to financial distress for the hospitals,” Parr said.
Parr said the watchdog group has found private equity-owned dental companies push unnecessary services on patients to increase profits.
“We’ve seen dental companies push root canals on children and babies,” he said.
Parr said, overall, cutting services, employees and the amount of time providers can spend with their patients, plus, at times, pushing unnecessary procedures onto patients, all lead to poor patient outcomes.
Kane said her office would not regulate private equity firms if the bill is enacted.
“This isn’t going to solve everything,” Kane said.
But, she said, the bill would allow her office to monitor a private equity transaction process. She said if the private equity firm making the purchase begins to cut services, impact access, quality or cost, the state would be able to bring enforcement against the company.
“We’re trying to prevent problems seen in prior transactions,” Kane said.
Republicans said in legislative meetings last year that a previous version of the bill would hurt business investment in New Mexico.
Kane said government regulation often elicits those kinds of comments, but in the insurance industry it has not held true.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Kane said.
Kane said she thinks a whistleblower protection section of the bill will prove to be important since it will enable employees of a private-equity owned healthcare facility to come forward without fear of reprisal if they see problems occurring.
“Providers need protection so they could come tell us if conditions are not being met. They’re going to be our strongest source of information,” Kane said.
NM GOP and Democrats say state needs to fix home insurance, as disasters upend private market - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
As home insurance grows increasingly expensive and unavailable in some fire-prone areas of New Mexico, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers agree the market can’t provide adequate coverage to protect homes here against future disasters.
Lawmakers in both parties told Source New Mexico they are exploring different ways during the 60-day legislative session to allow the state to intervene. Options include: increasing coverage limits, along with premiums, in a state-operated insurance program; and investing as much as $100 million in that program to help it sustain itself for at least the next few big catastrophes.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also announced in her State of the State speech on Tuesday a proposal for a “state-sponsored fire insurance program outside the private market,” noting in her speech that, “No New Mexican should be priced out of a fire insurance policy.”
The governor’s proposal, still in its early stages, is to create a state-run fire insurance program outside of private markets and separate from the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements plan currently overseen by the state’s insurance regulator. Her office provided details to Source on Thursday afternoon in an email.
The governor’s proposal is necessary as “traditional private insurance becomes increasingly scarce and expensive, particularly due to the rising frequency and severity of wildfires,” said spokesperson Michael Coleman.
It would be structured as a not-for-profit program, similar to the state’s workers’ compensation fund, but with some key differences to account for the fact that disasters can affect thousands of properties all at once, Coleman said.
The plan would require initial state funding to establish adequate reserves, but the amount has not been determined yet, Coleman said, and the state would assume some “limited liability” to make the program viable. It would require property owners mitigate risk around their property to qualify for coverage, he said.
In the end, Coleman said the program would “provide coverage to any New Mexican who needs it.
Sen. Gabriel Ramos (R-Silver City) told Source on Thursday morning he was drafting a bill with the help of the state’s Office of the Superintendent of Insurance to increase the coverage limits offered under its Fair Access to Insurance Requirements plan. The FAIR plan is meant to be an insurer of last resort for people denied coverage in the private market.
Ramos, an insurance agent, said his own home insurance cost has tripled in the last several years, which he initially described in an interview as “gouging,” but later said was just a necessity for a struggling private company.
He said private insurers in his town have effectively drawn red lines that delineate where insurance will be unaffordable for most New Mexicans and where it won’t be offered at all. So the expanding state’s FAIR plan is necessary there and elsewhere in New Mexico, he said.
He is considering increasing the limits of residential coverage to $750,000 and $1 million in two tiers that depend on a home’s value and the rating of a local fire department’s capacity to respond to wildfires. The current program only covers $350,000, and it only covers the actual, not replacement, value of a lost home amid rising construction costs and home prices.
Ramos also is deliberating how much taxpayer money to infuse into the expanded program to keep it running, mentioning $50 million and $100 million as possibilities. He said the state’s intervention is necessary based on the sheer number of natural disasters that are overwhelming private insurers.
“Catastrophes are out of their control, and as a company, there’s only so much that they can withstand,” he said. “And when you’ve had as many catastrophes as we’ve had in the state of New Mexico, it’s really hard to actuary and figure out what the future is going to be.
According to the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance, some New Mexico counties saw huge increases in home insurance premiums between 2020 and 2023, ranging between 41% and 47% in Hidalgo, Roosevelt and Curry counties. On average, New Mexico premiums increased by 16% in the same time period.
Despite the increases in premiums, cancellations and non-renewals, insurance companies remain largely profitable in New Mexico, according to the state’s insurance regulator. Still, insurers here did have losses in 2016, 2017 and 2022—the latter the year when the two biggest wildfires in state history occurred—according to the OSI.
Sen. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe), the Senate majority leader, said in an interview before the session that Democrats will also propose legislation that would increase the amount of coverage for those whose only insurance option is the FAIR plan.
Wirth, who said many of his Santa Fe County constituents are losing insurance, said he was considering increasing the caps to $1.5 million to $2 million, with up to $5 million for commercial coverage.
“This is a really important thing for us, as we all kind of learn to live with the new normal,” Wirth said.
Wirth’s bill, which is co-sponsoring with Rep. Harlan Vincent (R-Ruidoso Downs), has been introduced. And there’s a mention of a related policy in the state budget released by the House Appropriations and Finance Committee.
If approved in legislation, the budget would include $49.5 million for a pilot program in Lincoln County, where the South Fork and Salt fires occurred last summer. The program would increase residential and commercial property limits in the county, so long as FAIR plan recipients take steps to mitigate fire risk to their homes in line with national standards.
MOST NM ZIP CODES SAW INSURANCE NON-RENEWALS ABOUT NATIONAL AVERAGE IN 2022
The proposed legislation from various fronts comes a week after a first-of-its-kind study from the federal government examining what factors, including climate change risks, were affecting homeowners insurance markets across the country. The Federal Insurance Office released its study Jan. 16, five days before President Donald Trump was inaugurated.
The study analyzed markets across the country, collecting data down to the ZIP code level, between 2018 and 2022. It found, among other things, that premiums nationwide grew 8.7% faster than inflation during those four years, and 14.7% faster than inflation for those who lived in the highest-risk areas. Homeowners and insurers in areas with higher risk of “climate-related perils” were also more likely to have higher premiums and policy non-renewals, according to the study.
In addition to the rest of the country, the study looked at 200 of approximately 260 New Mexico ZIP codes. It found in 21 of those ZIP codes in 2022, private insurers paid out more in claims and other expenses than they generated in premiums, according to a Source New Mexico analysis.
In 2022, the state’s largest and second-largest wildfires in New Mexico history burned, each exceeding 300,000 acres. Across the 200 statewide ZIP codes the study analyzed, insurance companies chose not to renew policyholders’ insurance at a higher rate than the national average in 152 of them.
Albuquerque City Council OKs public housing upgrades - By Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
Multiple low-income Albuquerque properties are officially set for energy-efficient upgrades, which Mayor Tim Keller’s administration says will lower costs for residents.
City councilors on Wednesday unanimously approved a contract with the International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology to start a $6 million project that will add new weatherstripping, water heaters, furnaces, smart thermostats and lighting to eight city-owned apartment complexes.
The properties include Manzano Vista Apartments, The Beach apartment complex, Santa Barbara Senior Apartments, Bluewater Village, Tucson Apartments, Los Altos Lofts, Glorieta Apartments and Candelaria Gardens — 594 units in total.
The city will pitch in $1.5 million toward the project. Connor Woods, a spokesperson for the Department of Health, Housing and Homelessness, said in an email that “residents of city-owned properties are expected to see an estimated 15% to 40% reduction in their utilities.”
NM Supreme Court rules anti-discrimination law applies to public schools and universities - Jeanette DeDios, KUNM News
According to a ruling by the New Mexico Supreme Court Thursday, public schools and universities may be sued for discriminatory conduct under the New Mexico Human Rights Act.
In a unanimous opinion, the court concluded that public schools and public universities are considered “public accommodations” under the state’s anti-discrimination law.
This comes after a Native American student, McKenzie Johnson, was allegedly called a “bloody Indian” by a high school teacher in Albuquerque during a class on Halloween in 2018.
Johnson was 16 at the time and was dressed in costume with fake blood on her cheek. The teacher went further by allegedly cutting off part of another Native American student's braided hair.
Johnson sued Albuquerque Public Schools and the teacher, but the case was dismissed by a district court. The teacher later moved out of state and continues to teach.
The ruling overturns a decision that has stood for decades that a public university was not a public accommodation.
The justices also noted that the Human Rights Act protections must be considered with New Mexico’s history of race-based discrimination, and that schools have been used to further the assimilation and “cultural erasure” of Native American and Hispanic children.
Asylum-seekers pushed to new extremes in Mexico after Trump's border crackdown begins - By Megan Janetsky and Edgar H. Clemente, Associated Press
When Dayana Castro heard that the U.S. asylum appointment she waited over a year for was canceled in an instant, she had no doubt: She was heading north any way she could.
The 25-year-old migrant, her husband and their 4- and 7-year-old children had nothing left at home in Venezuela. They already had trekked the perilous Darien Gap jungle dividing Colombia and Panama and criminal groups that prey on migrants like them.
Castro was one of tens of thousands of migrants across Mexico with appointments to apply for U.S. asylum at the border scheduled out through February until President Donald Trump took office and issued a series of executive orders to beef up border security and slash migration. One ended the use of the CBP One app that had allowed nearly 1 million people, many seeking asylum, to legally enter the U.S. since January 2023.
"We're going to keep going. We can't go home after all we've been through, after all the countries we've fought our way through, only to give up now," she said from a small shelter in central Mexico beside a freight train line they were riding north.
Now, migrants like her are adjusting to a new and uncertain reality. Many remain determined to reach the U.S. through more dangerous means, riding freight trains, hiring smugglers and dodging authorities. Some lined up in Mexico's refugee offices to seek asylum in that country, while others contemplated finding a way back home.
Trump on Monday declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and announced plans to send U.S. troops and restrict refugees and asylum, saying he wants to halt illegal entry and border crime. The measures follow a drop in illegal crossings in recent months.
Supporters of the CBP One app that people like Castro used to try to enter legally say it brought order to a chaotic border. Critics say it was magnet for more people to come.
Adam Isacson, defense oversight analyst for the human rights organization Washington Office on Latin America, said Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration will surely deter migrants in the short term but will also have cascading humanitarian consequences.
People with valid asylum claims may die in their own countries, he said, while migrants fleeing countries like Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti who cannot easily return home may end up floating around the Americas "completely unprotected." Isacson and other analysts expect Trump's policies will lead to increased demand for smugglers and push migrants — many of whom are children and families — to more dangerous terrain to avoid capture.
By Tuesday, Castro was wrapping her mind around the fact that continuing on after her Feb. 18 appointment with U.S. authorities was canceled would likely mean putting her life, and the lives of her family, at risk as cartels are increasingly extorting and kidnapping vulnerable migrants.
"There's the train, the cartels, migration police, and they all make you pay them," she said as she fed her children bread beside a small shelter where they slept. "But if we don't put ourselves at risk, we'll never arrive."
Along Mexico's southern border with Guatemala another group of migrants in Tapachula took a different approach.
Cuban migrant Rosalí Martínez waited in line outside the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid in the sweltering southern city. Traveling with her child, she had hoped to reunite with her husband in the U.S.
Now, she was biding her time, joining an increasing number of migrants who have sought asylum in Mexico in recent years, either temporarily due to shifting American restrictions or more permanently.
Like many Cubans in recent years, Martínez was fleeing a spiraling economic crisis.
"I'm going to stay here and see what happens," she said. But "I'm not going back to Cuba. I'll become a Mexican citizen, but there's no way I'm going back to Cuba."
Others like 42-year-old Jomaris Figuera and her husband want to throw in the towel after years trying to build a life outside Venezuela, where economic and political crises have prompted nearly 8 million people to flee in recent years.
They spent more than four years picking coffee in neighboring Colombia, but struggling to make ends meet, they decided to traverse the Darien Gap. They waited nearly a year and a half for a legal pathway to the U.S. in a wooden shelter in a crime-riddled migrant camp in the center of Mexico City.
But due to Venezuela's crises, they have no passports. And without money, they fear their only pathway back will be traveling south through Mexico and Central America, and walking days through the same rugged mountains of the Darien Gap.
Anything would be better than staying in Mexico, said Figuera.
"It's like abandoning everything after everything that's happened to us," she said. "But after trying to get an appointment, and this happens, we've given up."