Suicides in New Mexico rose 9% in 2024, state health department says - Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
Suicides in New Mexico increased by 9% last year, bringing numbers up to pre-pandemic levels after a slight dip, according to a new report from the New Mexico Department of Health.
In 2024, there were 512 suicides in the state — 42 more than in 2023, NMDOH officials said.
“One life lost to suicide is too many,” said Clarie Miller, lead suicide prevention coordinator for NMDOH. “We could drop by 50% and we still have lives to save.”
The state saw a small downturn in suicides in 2022 and 2023, which Miller attributes in part to the rollout of the 988 mental health crisis line, but last year’s 9% increase “really took us back to our pretty consistent average,” she said.
New Mexico had the fifth-highest per capita suicide rate in the country in 2023, and has consistently ranked in the top five states for the last decade, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last year, white New Mexicans had the highest suicide rate of 29.4 deaths per 100,000 people, the NMDOH found, followed by Native Americans at 26.2 deaths per 100,000 people. The Hispanic suicide rate in New Mexico has increased by 27% over the past 10 years, NMDOH officials said.
Firearms were involved in 60% of the suicides in the state, according to the data.
“While we see a reduction in one risk area, we tend to see an increase in another,” Miller said. “We know in New Mexico, there is not one solution that we can just roll out across the state, or we would have.”
Research indicates a correlation between economic uncertainty and an increased suicide rate, which may be a factor in the increase in New Mexico suicides, Miller said.
“I think it can be an attributing factor,” she said. “The temperature in our country and our at-risk communities that are even more at-risk now (is) extremely concerning, and we are taking every step … to be able to support these higher-risk categories that we know are being affected by the temperature in the country and administration.”
Crisis responders from Albuquerque Community Safety also noted an uptick in callers experiencing suicidal ideation. ACS spokesperson Jorge Hernandez reported an average of 203 callers a month with thoughts of suicide last year, compared to an average of 107 monthly in 2023, though Hernandez suspects 2023’s numbers may have been artificially low because the public didn’t yet know about ACS’s crisis line. So far in 2025, the upward trend has continued with a monthly average of 210 callers with suicidal ideation, he said.
When a caller reports feeling suicidal, ACS dispatches a crisis responder to their location, who will walk them through the experience and help them with a treatment plan, or take them to the hospital, depending on the situation’s severity.
“People losing their jobs, losing relationships, those are all things that we’ve come across (where) they feel like they’re at a point where they can no longer go on,” said Walter Adams, deputy director of field operations for ACS. “So I don’t think it’s just driven by one single (statistical) reason. I think it’s really situational, depending on that person’s circumstances.”
Adams said he encounters many different types of people reporting feeling suicidal.
“It doesn’t have a face, and it doesn’t discriminate,” he said.
Miller said the state has a similar crisis response team in Las Cruces and is working on developing programs for rural areas through funding from the New Mexico Behavioral Health Trust.
“We know the importance of crisis response, but it is extremely expensive,” Miller said.
No matter where a person lives, asking for help can be difficult, she said.
“Reaching out for mental health support, taking that first step, it can be just as hard in an urban area as it is to find access in rural areas, because of the stigma.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis – call or text the New Mexico suicide and crisis lifeline at 9-8-8.
Local Solar Access applications expected to open early next year - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Local and tribal governments in New Mexico can expect to begin applying for state funding to support solar energy projects early next year, if not sooner, state officials told lawmakers on Wednesday.
At the New Mexico Finance Authority Oversight Committee’s meeting in Deming, NMFA Deputy Director Fernando Martinez said applications for the newly created Local Solar Access Fund will open in early 2026, but the agency is hoping to have them ready by December.
The fund is a $20 million pot of public money for grants for solar energy and battery storage for tribal, rural and low-income schools, municipalities, counties, land grant communities and New Mexico’s seven regional Councils of Governments.
The projects supported by the fund are meant to reduce energy costs for low-income households and community service providers; support the local renewable energy workforce; enhance community resilience during emergencies; and leverage other funding sources, according to Martinez’s presentation to the committee.
The new law requires NMFA to provide project grants for designing and building solar systems, and help developers obtain state and local permits or apply for federal or other funding sources, the presentation states.
“We’ll be in the meantime building the applications internally so that we have a really good system so that when we open it up, it’s a really straightforward process, and we have a really good client experience for them, so it’s not too difficult,” Martinez said.
An advance copy of the proposed rule for funding decisions given to the committee on Wednesday also requires NMFA to work with the state Energy, Minerals, & Natural Resources Department to create minimum standards for proposed systems and metrics for applicants. Those metrics include capacity for the scope of work; project location; how much a project will contribute to a community’s “resilience;” and any other benefits that may result.
The new law requires most of the funding to benefit rural communities. The proposed rule specifies at least 60% of the money, approximately $10.8 million, be allocated to rural communities with a total county population of 60,000 or fewer people. No more than 25% of the money can go to any one county, the rule states, including the county government itself.
Half of New Mexico’s population lives in the 30 more rural counties, Rep. Kathleen Cates (D-Rio Rancho) told the committee, while the other half lives in Bernalillo, Santa Fe and Doña Ana counties.
“We don’t want to forget about either 50% of the population,” Cates said. “I appreciate that the drafters of this bill understand that rural communities are at a disadvantage and are giving them more than 50% of the opportunity for this program.”
The proposed rule sets a $16 million limit total for project grants and $2 million for technical assistance, leaving $2 million for NMFA to administer the program and cover any unexpected costs, NMFA spokesperson Lynn Taulbee told Source NM.
New Mexico’s implementation of new solar funding law comes as the federal government reverses the prior administration’s moves to boost renewable energy production.
A law signed by President Joe Biden in 2022 gave developers tax and energy production credits for wind and solar projects, but President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” abruptly ended those credits in July.
Then in August, the Trump administration clawed back $7 billion in grants for solar energy projects for low-income households from the same Biden-era law that would have benefitted 60 recipients, including EMNRD.
New Mexico also has a different program for businesses and low-income households to receive energy from solar farms.
During the presentation, NMFA CEO Marquita Russel noted that both the NMFA and the legislative oversight committee will need to approve the Local Solar Access Fund’s rules by November. Once initially approved, the committee will have to sign off on any future changes, she said.
This story was updated following publication to clarify when applications are expected to open.
NM advisers to US Civil Rights Commission call for closure of ICE detention facilities - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
A bipartisan New Mexico committee that advises the federal Civil Rights Commission is calling for the closure of the state’s immigration detention facilities, citing concerns about detainee treatment and the private companies running them.
The 11-person New Mexico Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released findings and recommendations Monday stemming from an inquiry that began in October 2024. The board looked into civil rights at the state’s three immigration detention facilities in Otero, Cibola and Torrance counties. The committee’s chair and vice-chair dissented from the majority’s opinion.
After the months-long review, which included several hours of testimony from immigration advocates, lawyers and other experts, the committee called for the facilities’ closure and for more oversight of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and its contractors.
Apart from the Torrance County manager, the committee did not hear from detention center wardens, county officials, private prison operators or federal officials. Those people all were unable or declined to participate, despite the committee going to “great lengths to solicit participation” from diverse perspectives, according to the committee’s 27-page report.
In total, the state’s three detention centers house approximately 1,500 ICE detainees, a number that has steadily increased amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push. The committee largely cited testimony from January, before Trump’s inauguration, and alleged abuses from before his second term began.
Neither the committee’s advice to the Civil Rights Commission nor the Civil Rights Commission recommendations to federal or local authorities are binding. However, the committee recommendations echo recent calls from some Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates who have called on the Legislature to ban ICE detention in the state.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced last week that banning the facilities will not be on the agenda of an Oct. 1 special session, but that she’d put the measure on the legislative agenda early next year and would push for the strongest possible legislation to ban ICE detention centers here.
Proponents of the bans say the state should neither enable nor profit off the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort; opponents note the economic benefits of the jails and say New Mexico offers relatively humane facilities as compared to other states or countries.
The committee on July 28 voted 7-2 to accept a series of findings and recommendations regarding the facilities. Those findings note that detained immigrants in New Mexico have “limited access to legal representation and rights education,” and are being housed in unsafe facilities. Regarding the latter point, the report cites repeated issues with food services and cleanliness at the facility in Torrance, as well as a 2022 surprise Inspector General report from the facility calling for its immediate closure.
“In addition to concerns about the overall sanitation of the facilities, there were even more worrying issues raised about safety in these facilities. These issues include people going without medical attention, drug trafficking by facility staff, and being assaulted by other inmates and guards,” the committee report states.
The committee also found that those problems were rooted in the contracting process between ICE, counties and private facility operators.
“This contracting system can create some circularity and confusion when it comes to oversight and accountability and leaves each stakeholder only partially accountable for addressing issues,” the report states.
As for recommendations, the committee said that the Commission on Civil Rights should push the federal Homeland Security Department, which oversees ICE, to immediately begin closing the three facilities; stop using county-level passthrough contracts with private prison operators in New Mexico; expand community-based alternatives to detention; and create an independent oversight entity.
Committee Chair Chris Saucedo and Douglas Turner, the vice-chair, both of Albuquerque, disagreed with their colleagues’ recommendations to close the facilities or terminate county-level passthrough contracts.
“We believe that neither of these recommendations address the issues related to the creation and expansion of alternative detention options, enhancing oversight and transparency of detention operations and standards, or the creation of platforms to release prompt and accessible information to the public,” they wrote.
Saucedo did not respond to Source’s request for comment. Turner declined to comment.
New Mexico Rep. Pamelya Herndon (D-Albuquerque) is also on the committee. She did not respond to Source’s request for comment.
All committee members’ four-year terms expired Tuesday, a day after the report was released,
according to the Civil Rights Commission’s website. The committee issued two prior reports on educational disparities for Native American students and wage theft.
Albuquerque Public Schools outlines projects that could be completed with bond vote - KRQE-TV, KUNM News
Albuquerque Public Schools officials this week have described projects they hope to begin if voters approve a $350 million bond measure that will be on local ballots this November.
KRQE-TV reports APS would like to demolish the existing administration building at Barcelona Elementary School in the South Valley. Officials would like to replace the structure with a new gym, cafeteria and media center.
Another big-ticket item is a proposed overhaul of Zia Elementary School estimated to cost $39 million.
Other possible projects include a new classroom at La Mesa Elementary and Mary Ann Binford Elementary.
APS would also like to convert an old bus depot off of Under Blvd. into a trade-school facility.