NMDOH reports new measles case in deceased Lea County resident - By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
An unvaccinated Lea County resident tested positive for measles after their death, New Mexico Health officials announced Thursday.
The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator is still investigating the resident’s cause of death, but the NMDOH Scientific Laboratory confirmed the presence of the measles virus.
The resident, according to an NMDOH news release, was over the age of 18 and did not seek medical attention before their death.
The positive case now brings the number of reported measles cases in New Mexico to 10, all located in Lea County. Four infections are in children under the age of 17.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the world. Symptoms can appear anywhere from one to three weeks after exposure and include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and a red spotty rash. Serious complications can develop, including brain swelling, blindness, pneumonia and death. One in five cases requires hospitalization.
The best prevention against the measles is getting two doses of the vaccine, according to health officials.
“We don’t want to see New Mexicans getting sick or dying from measles,” NMDOH Deputy State Epidemiologist Dr. Chad Smelser said in a statement. “The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best protection against this serious disease.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still reports only one confirmed death from measles Thursday: a school-aged unvaccinated child in Texas.
DOGE backs off after seeking closure of office overseeing nuclear waste site - By Algernon D'Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
Alarm this week over reports that the Department of Energy’s field office in Carlsbad was being closed at the behest of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency appeared to be settled Thursday, when plans to terminate the office's lease were withdrawn.
The Carlsbad DOE office oversees the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, an underground nuclear waste repository 26 miles southeast of the city.
Earlier in the week, the DOGE website listed the office's lease among those that would be cancelled as part of the billionaire tech executive's project to enact drastic cuts to spending and personnel across the federal government.
Neither the Department of Energy nor the General Services Administration, which manages federal properties, answered questions about what the closure would mean for the management and safety teams responsible for WIPP, which houses defense-related nuclear waste in a repository situated in an ancient salt bed half a mile underground.
Instead, a notice from the GSA dated Wednesday and obtained by the Journal informs the property owner that the termination, which had been set for Aug. 31, had been revoked and the lease remained "in full force and effect."
The notice of termination followed a 30% reduction in staff at the Carlsbad office over the past month, per U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., who voiced concern about the lease termination in public statements as he sought a meeting with GSA officials.
WIPP is projected to consume its available storage space during 2025, Vasquez noted in a news release, and plans to expand capacity at the site depend on system upgrades that have already run into delays attributed, in part, to staffing shortages.
“The attempted closure of the WIPP office was reckless and short-sighted,” Vasquez said in a written statement. “I stood up for Carlsbad workers and our national security interests as soon as I heard of this potential closure. I’ll continue holding the administration accountable when uninformed decisions threaten the livelihoods of New Mexicans.”
The closure remained on the DOGE website's list of "savings" as of Thursday morning. But a spokesperson for the Department of Energy confirmed the GSA "has revoked its prior notice to exercise termination rights for multiple DOE facility leases, ensuring that these mission-critical operations continue without disruption.”
NM utility opts not to shut off power to area of East Mountains amid high winds and wildfire risk - By Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Update March 6 at 2:35 p.m.: No shutoff will occur today, PNM officials said, because the “intensity of the storm is lower than forecasted.” According to spokesperson Jeff Buell: “We continue to monitor real-time weather, and additional crews are standing by in the field.”
About 10,000 customers in the East Mountains near Albuquerque should gear up for a power shutoff in anticipation of high winds and wildfire risk, electric utility officials said at a news conference Thursday.
High winds are expected throughout the day, particularly in Las Vegas, N.M., Santa Fe and the East Mountains. Gusts could reach 50 mph or higher, according to the National Weather Service.
The shutoff would affect all customers in the map below, including schools, officials with the Public Service Company of New Mexico said at a news briefing Thursday. The shutoff will begin at noon Thursday and is scheduled to last until 6 p.m. tomorrow, but conditions could change to shorten or lengthen the amount of time power is out, officials said.
PNM officials also said conditions are improving in the East Mountains, but they are going forward with a shutoff as planned for now.
“We are monitoring the system and conditions real time,” said PNM spokesperson Jeff Guell.
On Wednesday, the utility put customers in three areas on notice that shutoffs were likely. But the conditions improved in Santa Fe and Las Vegas such that the shutoffs will not occur, at least for now, officials said.
In both areas, officials warned that the power grid would be more “sensitive” to debris or trees coming into contact with power lines and would not automatically re-energize, as the system does during calmer weather. Instead, lines would be inspected in person before being re-energized, so power outages could be longer than normal.
The San Miguel/Mora Electric Cooperative also put customers on alert that it may have to shut off power for its customers in the Las Vegas area, as well.
If the shutoff occurs as planned, it would be the first time in PNM’s history that it preemptively shutoff power during a weather event, officials said. They cited the increase in extreme weather and other factors as reasons for the unprecedented step.
They also said the shutoff is not an attempt to prevent lawsuits if a tree falls on a live power line sparks a wildfire, though utilities have been on the hook for multi-billion-dollar lawsuits elsewhere. In 2013, a series of wildfires in California deemed to have ignited from trees hitting PG&E power lines resulted in a $13 billion lawsuit.
PNM is also currently fighting a lawsuit for the McBride Fire in Ruidoso in 2022.
Shortly after the fire, lawyers began suing PNM and its contractor, Trees, Inc., ultimately representing hundreds of plaintiffs. The lawsuit alleges that the McBride Fire’s cause was a pine tree that blew over onto a power line maintained by the utility. They say PNM and its contractor were negligent in allowing the tree to be tall enough and close enough to the power line to cause a fire on a windy day.
PNM previously denied any wrongdoing in a statement to Source New Mexico: “Public reports have noted a tree spanning approximately 50 feet tall that was outside of our right-of-way had contacted a power line due to unanticipated wind gusts of over 90 miles per hour,” spokesperson Eric Chavez told Source New Mexico. “PNM proactively employs vegetation management and wildfire mitigation practices that comply with applicable authorities.”
NM Supreme Court issues split ruling on governor’s emergency orders targeting gun violence, drug abuse - By Matthew Reichbach, New Mexico Political Report
The New Mexico Supreme Court issued a split ruling on the legality of emergency orders related to gun violence and drug use.
The court ruled that Gov. Michelle Lujan’s executive order banning guns in parks and playgrounds within the City of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, did not violate the separation of powers between the executive and the legislative branches. A previous version of the order banned the public possession of firearms, but was blocked by a federal court, leading the governor to tighten the restrictions.
The state high court however ruled that an executive order to suspend a program originally aimed at lowering the number of children in detention centers exceeded “the limits of police power.”
Lujan Grisham used the Public Health Emergency Response Act to issue the orders in September 2023. It’s the same law that justified COVID-19 executive actions, something Republicans opposed and sought to overturn, including in this lawsuit.
The court ruled that the legislative intent of the Public Health Emergency Response Act was to “delegate considerable authority and discretion to the executive branch to declare a public health emergency.”
The ruling continued, “the Legislature presumably intended to grant a governor the authority to determine when an occurring or imminent event gives rise to an imminent threat of substantial harm that warrants declaration of a public health emergency.”
The court also ruled that a public health emergency does not need to be “sudden” or “unforeseen” under the law, or under the common meaning of the word “emergency.”
“Petitioners offer no argument that the Legislature intended for a governor not to be able to declare and address a public health emergency when a proper crisis arises gradually and foreseeably, such as substantial harm to the public from persistent drought or flu,” the ruling states.
One area the state Supreme Court said the executive branch overstepped its bounds: Seeking to suspend the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative program within the state Children, Youth and Families Department which seeks to reduce the population of children within detention facilities.
The court ruled that it was not clear “which declared public health emergency — gun violence or drug abuse — is meant to be addressed by the suspension of JDAI or CYFD’s evaluation of juvenile probation protocols” and that the order did not give an expected outcome from doing so.
All of the orders expired in October of 2024, but the state Supreme Court said they would decide the case, brought by Republican members of the state legislature and others, because of “substantial public interest” as well as the likelihood that similar questions would come in front of the court in the future.
The ruling was not unanimous. Justice Shannon Bacon wrote the opinion, with Chief Justice David Thomson and Justice Julie Vargas concurring. Justices Michael Vigil and Briana Zamora each wrote dissenting opinions.
“I am guided by my apprehension that the unconstrained exercise of emergency executive powers the majority has approved in this instance could readily be misused,” Zamora wrote. “While the Governor’s desire to combat gun violence and drug abuse appears to be well-intended, there is nothing in the majority’s opinion that would restrict a future governor from taking actions that would be substantively more troubling.”
AG investigating community health center that screened for citizenship - By Algernon D'Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s office confirmed it is investigating a Hatch-based health care provider that announced last week it would restrict services based on immigration status.
Ben Archer Health Center, a nonprofit community health center based in Hatch, operates 11 locations across four counties and provides services at three high schools in Las Cruces.
On Feb. 26, multiple locations posted notices at their entrances that, in light of an executive order from President Donald Trump, “any ineligible alien who entered the United States illegally or is otherwise unlawfully present in the United States does not qualify for federally funded services at Ben Archer Health Center.”
The signs came down later that day after Ben Archer received guidance from the New Mexico Primary Care Association. However, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., reported hearing from constituents who had been asked to provide proof of citizenship before receiving services.
Community organizing group NM Café reported on its Facebook page that it had also heard reports of such requests the following day, after the senator’s office and the health department intervened.
“Folks are choosing to not try to go at all or don’t know which clinics they can go to,” Stevie Paz, a spokesperson for NM Café, told the Journal.
The New Mexico Health Care Authority confirmed Tuesday it was investigating one complaint about the matter.
“The Health Care Authority is actively monitoring the situation with the Ben Archer Health Centers in response to concerns from community members,” the agency told the Journal, adding that it was “working to ensure all people living in New Mexico receive health care from providers and will continue monitoring access to care in the region.”
Ben Archer CEO Mary Alice Garay did not respond to queries for this story. It is not clear whether the clinics or Ben Archer’s pharmacies have continued to ask about citizenship status since last week.
The state Department of Justice sent a cease and desist letter to Ben Archer on Feb. 28. The letter, obtained by the Journal, requested confirmation that the practice had stopped along with an accounting of how many patients were denied services, and what services or programs were affected.
Heinrich and Rep. Gabe Vasquez, a fellow Democrat representing southern New Mexico, called on the DOJ to determine whether Ben Archer had violated any laws and to assure patients were not being questioned about their immigration status.
“We have opened an investigation into this matter,” Lauren Rodriguez, Torrez’s spokesperson, told the Journal on Monday, “and will take all appropriate steps to ensure that no one is discriminated against based on their national origin and that all health care facilities in New Mexico operate in compliance with state law.”
Darren White announces run for ABQ mayor - By Andy Lyman and Matthew Reichbach, City Desk ABQ
Darren White — a former Bernalillo County sheriff, state cabinet secretary and one of Mayor Tim Keller’s most vocal critics — announced Thursday afternoon that he would run for Mayor of Albuquerque.
In an announcement video released Thursday, White called himself a fiscal conservative and vowed to crack down on crime and homelessness in Albuquerque. In a news release, White criticized Keller for the number of homicides during the mayor’s two terms.
“Mayor Keller has presided over the most murders in Albuquerque’s history,” White said.
“His weak approach to crime and homelessness has failed and it’s time for change.”
Keller is not prohibited from running for a third term and has signalled he will do so, but has yet to make a formal announcement.
White went on to say in his official announcement that he will “give police officers the resources and support they need to restore order to our city” and “repeal Mayor Keller’s Sanctuary City law,” referring to the city’s policy of not working with federal immigration agents or detaining anyone based on their immigration status.
White said he plans on using public financing to fund his campaign.
If he wins election in November, it won’t be White’s first time working in City Hall. He was the Chief Public Safety Officer under Mayor Richard Berry. He retired from the position in 2011, a little more than a week after he showed up to the scene of a car crash involving his wife. The Police Oversight Commission exonerated White of any wrongdoing in the incident later that year.
White has long been involved in politics. He unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2008 against Martin Heinrich in the state’s 1st Congressional District.
White also served as Secretary of Public Safety under Gov. Gary Johnson, though he resigned when the then-Republican governor began advocating for marijuana legalization. Despite lobbying against state medical cannabis legalization efforts, White again made news when he changed his stance on the substance and ran a medical cannabis company, which sold just before New Mexico legalized recreational use.
Disclosure: Darren White was a founding donor of City Desk ABQ
USDA ordered to rehire thousands of fired employees - By Cathy Cook, Albuquerque Journal
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has to rehire over 5,000 employees who were abruptly laid off as part of President Donald Trump’s attempts to unilaterally cut down the size of the federal government, in ways that sometimes run afoul of the law.
While the decision only affects the USDA, it undermines Trump’s efforts to dramatically cut down the size of the federal government by laying off broad swathes of federal employees. The rehired employees could still be laid off in the coming months, but being laid off as part of a reduction in force, or RIF, instead of for alleged performance issues, would be better for the employees’ long-term careers and help them financially, according to recently fired federal workers in New Mexico.
“It would be a difference, because at least I would hopefully know then that it was based off of legitimate reasons, not because of false accusations,” said former Carson National Forest wildlife biologist Jordan Martinez, who may be one of those 5,000 employees getting rehired. Having that she got fired for performance in her record could harm her prospects if she applies for other federal jobs in the future, she said.
The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board ruled Wednesday that USDA has to stay its termination of an anonymous forestry technician who was fired Feb. 13 during his probationary period, along with every other USDA employee who received the same termination letter, which may include New Mexicans. The ruling requires the employees to be given back their jobs until at least April 18. USDA has five days to comply with the order.
USDA oversees a range of agricultural and rural services agencies, including the Forest Service. The department did not respond to a request for comment.
Martinez believes she will be reinstated because she received an identical termination letter to the employee in the Merit Board case, but she has not gotten a return work notice yet. Martinez had worked for Carson for just over a year and, in that time, received awards, positive performance reviews and a promotion.
Former Carlsbad park ranger Suzette Runyon also does not know yet if she will be rehired, and she’s trying not to get her hopes up.
“Since, like, everybody that I know had the literal exact same letter, word for word, other than our names, I’m pretty sure that we do fall into that same category,” Runyon said.
Runyon is a former teacher, so she is working to get her substitute teaching license. She expects to see her fellow fired park rangers at a job fair in Carlsbad on Friday.
Former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services biologist Robert Prather will not be one of those 5,000 employees, as Fish and Wildlife is underneath the Interior Department, but he was heartened to hear Wednesday’s news. Prather was one of thousands laid off in February, with a letter claiming that he was terminated because his skills, knowledge and capabilities are unfit for the department.
“That’s just wildly untrue,” he said. “I had gotten really, really great performance reviews. They’re actually so good that I was given a cash award. I was nominated for the Region Two Early Career Professional of the Year Award. I was excelling in my position, and so I would like to, even if I return and then get RIF-ed, I’d like it to be done in a manner that’s legal,” Prather said.
Getting fired through a reduction in force would also come with a severance payment, unlike a termination for performance.
“There’s a lot of consequences associated with the way they chose to fire us. And it’s a stain on our record that nobody deserves,” Prather said.
If her old job is offered, Martinez said she would likely take it. Finding a new job has been especially difficult because so many people in the same field were laid off at once.
“I just don’t have much of a choice right now,” she said. “I’m having a hard time trying to find another position; unemployment is next to nothing, and even though priorities have changed, I would still do my best to help with our natural resources.”
US Supreme Court wrestles with nation's frustrating search for nuclear waste storage - By Mark Sherman, Associated Press
The Supreme Court on Wednesday wrestled with whether to restart plans to temporarily store nuclear waste at sites in rural Texas and New Mexico even as some justices worried about safety issues and the lack of progress toward a permanent solution.
The justices heard arguments in a case that reflects the complicated politics of the nation's so far futile quest for a permanent underground storage facility. A plan to build a national storage facility northwest of Las Vegas at Yucca Mountain has been mothballed because of staunch opposition from most Nevada residents and officials.
The court took up a challenge by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a private company with a license for the Texas facility to an appellate ruling that found the commission had no authority to grant the license. The outcome of the case will affect plans for a similar facility in New Mexico roughly 40 miles (65 kilometers) away.
The licenses would allow the companies to operate the facilities for 40 years, with the possibility of a 40-year renewal.
"That doesn't sound very interim to me," Justice Neil Gorsuch said, while also questioning the advisability of storing spent nuclear fuel "on a concrete platform in the Permian Basis, where we get all our oil and gas from."
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas joined Gorsuch in asking questions suggesting they were the most likely to uphold the ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Roughly 100,000 tons of spent fuel, some of it dating from the 1980s, is piling up at current and former nuclear plant sites nationwide and growing by more than 2,000 tons a year. The waste was meant to be kept there temporarily before being deposited deep underground.
The NRC has said that the temporary storage sites are needed because existing nuclear plants are running out of room. The presence of the spent fuel also complicates plans to decommission some plants, the Justice Department said in court papers.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, looking ahead to the United States' 250th anniversary next year, said, "I hope that we make it another 250, but if it takes 40 or 80 years for a solution to come, it would still be temporary, correct?"
Justice Department lawyer Malcolm Stewart agreed, noting that the spent fuel has to be kept somewhere, whether at operating and decommissioned plants or elsewhere.
Security also is cheaper with the waste in one or two locations, Stewart said, relying on arguments made by Interim Storage Partners LLC, the company with the Texas license.
Sotomayor, along with Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan and Brett Kavanaugh, seemed most inclined to reverse the 5th circuit. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett said little or nothing to reveal where they stand.
The NRC's appeal was filed by the Biden administration and maintained by the new Trump administration. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott,. a Republican, and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, are leading bipartisan opposition to the facilities in their states.
The justices will consider whether, as the NRC and Interim Storage Partners argues, the states and a private energy company forfeited their right to object to the licensing decisions because they declined to join in the commission's proceedings.
Two other federal appeals courts, in Denver and Washington, that weighed the same issue ruled for the agency. Only the 5th Circuit allowed the cases to proceed.
The second issue is whether federal law allows the commission to license temporary storage sites. Opponents are relying on a 2022 Supreme Court decision that held that Congress must act with specificity when it wants to give an agency the authority to regulate on an issue of major national significance. In ruling for Texas, the 5th Circuit agreed that what to do with the nation's nuclear waste is the sort of "major question" that Congress must speak to directly.
But the Justice Department has argued that the commission has long-standing authority to deal with nuclear waste reaching back to the 1954 Atomic Energy Act.
The NRC granted the Texas license to Interim Storage for a facility that could take up to 5,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel rods from power plants and 231 million tons of other radioactive waste. The facility would be built next to an existing dump site in Andrews County for low-level waste such as protective clothing and other material that has been exposed to radioactivity. The Andrews County site is about 350 miles west of Dallas, near the Texas-New Mexico state line.
The New Mexico facility would be in Lea County, in the southeastern part of the state near Carlsbad. The NRC gave a license for the site to Holtec International.
Alito, who said the interim sites could remove the incentive to find a permanent solution, asked Brad Fagg, a lawyer for Interim Storage Partners, for a prediction of when a permanent site would open.
"I've been in this stew for a lot of years," Fagg said. "I would be kidding myself and this court if I said I had a date."
A decision is expected by late June.
Protests planned today for Bernalillo Tesla dealership - Bryce Dix, KUNM News
UPDATE: Organizer Clint Bagley tells KUNM that today's event has been postponed until March 13 "due to inclement weather."
Amid a nationwide surge of protesters taking to Tesla dealerships to voice their disdain for billionaire owner Elon Musk’s hand in aggressive federal agency downsizing, demonstrators are planning to occupy the showroom of a dealership in Bernalillo Thursday afternoon.
According to a press release, the “Tesla Takedown" organizers plan to be arrested as they block entrances to “take direct action.”
Community organizations such as Planet Over Profit, Climate Defenders, Sunrise Movement, Rise & Resist, Extinction Rebellion, and Scientist Rebellion expect hundreds to attend.
Head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, Musk is spearheading an unprecedented effort to slash tens-of-thousands of federal jobs, effectively dismantling or hindering many agencies that deliver global aid, regulate pollution, and run the nation’s tax collection system.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day of office, officially creating DOGE. However, questions about the agency’s legality still remain unanswered.
Just last week, nine people were arrested as anti-Musk protests sparked outside a Tesla dealership in New York City.
Vance promotes Trump's 'whole government' immigration crackdown during visit to US-Mexico border - By Will Weissert and Valerie Gonzalez, Associated Press
Vice President JD Vance visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday and said that arrests for illegal crossings had fallen sharply because President Donald Trump is demanding that all of government prioritize the issue in ways his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, never did.
Vance was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, as he took a helicopter tour of the area around Eagle Pass, Texas, around 150 miles southwest of San Antonio. They also visited a Border Patrol facility and sat for a roundtable with Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and national, state and local officials.
Vance pointed to arrests for illegal border crossings plummeting 39% in January from a month earlier. The numbers have actually been falling sharply since well before Republican Trump took office for his second term on Jan. 20, coming down from an all-time high of 250,000 in December 2023. After that, Mexican authorities increased enforcement within their own borders and Biden introduced severe asylum restrictions early last summer.
"President Trump has empowered — and in fact demanded — that his whole government take the task of border control seriously," Vance said.
In an effort to impose harder-line immigration policies, the Trump administration has put shackled immigrants on U.S. military planes for deportation fights and sent some to the U.S. lockup at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. It has also expanded federal agents' arrests of people in the U.S. illegally and abandoned programs that gave some permission to stay.
The presence of Hegseth and Gabbard on the visit underscores how Trump is tasking agencies across the federal government with working to overhaul border and immigration policy, moving well beyond the Department of Homeland Security, the traditional home of most such functions.
"The border crisis has become a matter of national intelligence and it's also become something that requires the Department of Defense to engage," Vance said.
Gabbard blamed the Biden administration for the presence in the U.S. of people who crossed the border illegally and had possible ties to terrorists but were released into the country while they await immigration court proceedings.
"Who are they? What may they be plotting?" Gabbard asked. "This is just the beginning."
As part of his visit, Vance went to Shelby Park, a municipal park along the Rio Grande that Abbot seized from federal authorities last year in a feud with the Biden administration, after the governor accused the Biden White House of not doing enough to curb illegal crossings.
A group of friends and neighbors gathered two blocks from the park ahead of Vance's arrival. Dennis Charlton, a veteran and Eagle Pass resident with property along the border, wore two hats, one to commemorate his service and the other a red "Make America Great Again" cap.
He said he's witnessed human and drug smuggling activity on his border property that scared his wife and neighbors, but said such crossings have diminished significantly of late.
"I love it," Charlton said of the visit. "I just wish we could talk to him to thank him for everything that he and Trump have done."
Vance came to South Texas after Trump imposed 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, saying neither country is doing enough to stem illegal immigration and address drug trafficking, especially the flow of fentanyl across the U.S. border.
Asked about Trump's tariffs, Vance responded, "I actually think he's doing a huge favor to the people of Mexico because, if they don't get control of these cartels, the people of Mexico are going to wake up in a narco state, where the cartels have more power than their own government."
When asked about the potential for the U.S. to send troops to Mexico to battle drug cartels, Vance said he was "not going to make any announcements about any invasions of Mexico here today. The president has a megaphone and he'll of course speak to these issues as he feels necessary."
When pressed by reporters on if an invasion was really coming, Vance was more direct: "No," he said. "Next question."
Vance was also asked why more large-scale operations haven't been started to deport people who are in the U.S. illegally.
"Rome wasn't built in a day," Vance said. "We have seen pretty significant increases in deportations and apprehensive and arrests," he added. "But we have to remember, President Biden gutted the entire immigration enforcement regime of this country."
Since Trump's second term began, about 6,500 new active duty forces have been ordered to deploy to the southern border. Before that, there were about 2,500 troops already there, largely National Guard troops on active duty orders, along with a couple of hundred active duty aviation forces.
Troops are responsible for detection and monitoring along the border but don't interact with migrants attempting to illegally cross. Instead, they alert border agents, who then take the migrants into custody.
Biden tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with tackling the root causes of immigration during his administration, seeking to zero in on why so many migrants, particularly from Central America, were leaving their homelands and coming to the U.S. seeking asylum or trying to make it into the county illegally.
Harris made her first visit to the border in June 2021, about 3 1/2 months deeper into Biden's term than Vance's trip in the opening weeks of Trump's second term.
___
Weissert reported from Washington.
Rail Trail money transfer becomes veto yo-yo - By Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
After lengthy debates and public comments that spanned two meetings, along with hand wringing over a mayoral veto, the Albuquerque City Council ended where it began regarding funding for two high profile projects.
City councilors Monday night voted to override Mayor Tim Keller’s veto of the City Council’s decision to move funding from a high-profile, multi-use trail project to a planned sports complex project on the Westside. By the end of the meeting though, the council reversed its decision to transfer money from one project to the other.
“This is what our community asked for, restoring funding so the Rail Trail can keep moving forward and become a transformative landmark for Albuquerque,” Keller wrote in a statement Tuesday. “By working together, we’ve kept construction on track, without having to choose between projects or neighborhoods.”
After multiple residents pleaded with councilors to reconsider their decision during a meeting on Feb. 19, Councilor Joaquín Baca said he would work with Councilor Louie Sanchez and Keller’s administration to “figure something out.”
“This has obviously blown up into a lot,” Baca said at the time. “This is something we can work out, myself, Councilor Sanchez and the administration. I don’t think it needs to go beyond that.”
However, after that meeting, Keller vetoed the decision and said he supported the sports complex but not the money transfer. Councilors on Monday overrode the veto, but later in the evening passed a resolution that reversed the money transfer.
“I think that the way this veto occurred is completely inappropriate, disrespectful and enraging is the word I keep using,” Council President Brook Bassan said during Monday’s meeting.
The council originally approved the move during its Feb. 3 meeting. Councilors voted to transfer $500,000 from the ongoing Rail Trail project — a 7-mile multi-use trail that will connect the city’s historic destinations — to the planned Ken Sanchez Indoor Sports Complex.
Shortly after the veto, Keller held a public event at one of the sites for the Rail Trail project to celebrate progress and urge the council to uphold the veto. On Monday night, Bassan referred to the event as a “veto signing party,” and said she found it “really infuriating.”
“The process alone is not okay,” Bassan said. “Especially when I get told that I shouldn’t always go to the media or ‘let’s work together’…I hope that that is something the mayor understands and sees, because it’s not fair to us, as the legislative body, to be treated in the way we were in this veto.”
Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel told the council that the Rail Trail is a multi-phase project which is not fully funded but couldn’t say which phases are funded. Sengel said two phases are underway but there is not a set timeframe for completion.
Former councilor Ken Sanchez, who died in 2020 while still in office, initially presented the idea of the sports complex and Councilor Louie Sanchez continued the plan after he was elected. Louie Sanchez said the transferred money was a miniscule amount compared to how much the Rail Trail project will cost.
“It’s up to us, this body, to make those decisions,” Sanchez said. “You’re looking at less than one half of a cent in the overall picture…I said it before, I don’t have a problem with the Rail Trail at all. It’s just going to be a project that is going to take many, many years and many, many millions of dollars. So this was something we can get going immediately, get Ken Sanchez Indoor Sports Complex built, and get the kids who need the practice facilities, the kids who need a facility to enjoy their sports. That’s what we need.”
Laura McGill named new director of Sandia Labs - By Justin Garcia, Albuquerque Journal
Sandia National Laboratories is promoting from within.
Laura McGill, the deputy laboratories director for nuclear deterrence and chief technology officer at Sandia since 2021, will succeed James Peery as director, lab officials said in a news release.
McGill on May 1 will become the 17th director of Sandia, a federally funded research and development center that employs thousands and plays a key role in national security.
“Laura’s extensive experience in defense systems engineering and her proven leadership within Sandia makes her exceptionally qualified to guide the Laboratories into the future,” said Rich DeGraff, chair of the National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia LLC board of managers and president of control systems at Honeywell Aerospace. “Her commitment to national security, innovation and modern engineering aligns perfectly with Sandia’s mission.”
McGill’s previous post as deputy director involved overseeing the safety, security, effectiveness and modernization of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, and guiding Sandia’s contributions to nuclear weapon systems engineering, development and surveillance.
Before joining Sandia, McGill spent the last three decades in the defense industry, notably at Raytheon Missiles & Defense. There, Sandia officials said, she oversaw the development and operational support for advanced weapons systems for the federal Department of Defense and held the position of vice president of engineering.
McGill holds a master’s degree in aerospace systems from West Coast University and a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Washington.
Her predecessor, Peery, announced his retirement in October 2024. Peery has held the position since January 2020 and will retire at the end of April.
Senate passes bill aimed at shielding abortion providers under NM open records law - By Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
Records containing personal identifying information about certain New Mexico abortion providers would be exempted from the state’s open records law under a bill approved by the state Senate.
The Albuquerque Journal’s Dan Boyd reports that backers of the legislation called the step necessary due to threats to providers in a state with among the least restrictions on abortion services in the country.
But Republican senators pushed back against the legislation, saying it could be used to keep statistics and data about how many abortions are performed in New Mexico confidential.
New Mexico’s Inspection of Public Records Act already exempts public records dealing with trade secrets, medical exams and the identities of certain victims of crime.
Records containing personal identifying information about certain New Mexico abortion providers would be exempted from the state’s open records law under a bill approved Monday by the state Senate.
Backers of the legislation, Senate Bill 57, which passed on a party-line 26-16 vote, called the step necessary due to threats to providers in a state with among the least restrictions on abortion services in the country.
“Asking for an exemption is a big deal,” said Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, during Monday’s debate. “What these folks face is also a big deal.”
But Republican senators pushed back against the legislation, saying it could be used to keep confidential statistics and data about how many abortions are performed in New Mexico.
“New Mexicans rightfully deserve to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent,” said Senate Minority Whip Pat Woods, R-Broadview. “This bill aims to directly contradict that.”
New Mexico lawmakers in 2021 voted to repeal a state abortion ban that had been largely dormant for decades.
That repeal proved impactful when the U.S. Supreme Court a year later overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized abortion nationwide.
While other neighboring states subsequently enacted bans on abortion services, an estimated 21,000 abortions were performed in New Mexico in 2023. Patients coming to the state from Texas made up about 70% of that number, according to a study from the Guttmacher Institute.
New Mexico’s Inspection of Public Records Act already allows for public records dealing with trade secrets, medical examinations and the identities of certain crime victims to be kept confidential.
But some anti-abortion advocates have talked openly about obtaining 911 calls as part of their campaign to gather information about abortion facilities.
The legislation advancing at the Roundhouse would add a new exemption related to records containing “personal identifying information or sensitive information” related to medical providers employed by a public body who perform abortion services.
It would only apply to doctors at the University of New Mexico Center for Reproductive Health, since the state’s other abortion clinics are private and are not subject to the state’s open records laws, Wirth said.
Several first-term Senate Democrats spoke in favor of the bill during Monday’s debate, with Sen. Angel Charley of Acoma citing statistics showing an increase in stalking of abortion providers.
Sen. Cindy Nava, D-Albuquerque, said the bill would address a “gap in provider safety” amid requests for records dealing with their travel plans and other information.
Another senator, Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, said one of his daughters is studying obstetrics in Texas and might eventually return to New Mexico to practice.
If she does, he said her personal identifying information should not be publicly accessible.
“I accept that risk, but she shouldn’t have to,” Cervantes said.
The bill now advances to the House of Representatives with less than three weeks left in the 60-day legislative session.