New Mexico House representatives will support impeachment push – Cathy Cook, Albuquerque Journal
Members of New Mexico’s U.S. House delegation have signed on to cosponsor articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after a Minnesota woman was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer last week.
“I know a lot of people are feeling very frightened out there, but we want you to know that we are conducting oversight; we are taking action,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M.
Videos of Renee Good’s final interaction with a federal immigration officer before he shot and killed her have flooded social media feeds and fueled a national debate over whether the shooting was justified. The fatal shooting sparked protests, including one in Albuquerque Friday in which two people were arrested. It also boosted calls to impeach Noem.
Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., planned to file articles of impeachment against the DHS secretary Wednesday.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the impeachment push silly.
“As ICE officers are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them, Rep. Kelly is more focused on showmanship and fundraising clicks than actually cleaning up her crime-ridden Chicago district,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
A Los Angeles Times analysis of court records found a much lower increase — a 26% increase in assaults on federal officers. An NPR analysis from last year found a 25% increase.
Impeachment seems unlikely to progress, given Democrats are the minority in the House, but Kelly has secured more than 50 Democratic cosponsors, according to Axios reporting. That includes New Mexico’s three House representatives, the Journal confirmed.
“For the last year, Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security, under the leadership of Kristi Noem, has terrorized communities across the country with a violent, authoritarian, and chaotic attack on our communities,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., said in a statement.
Her sentiments were echoed by Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M.
“Under (Noem)’s direction, we have seen masked ICE agents unleash increasingly violent tactics across the country that make our communities less safe, especially for people of color,” Vasquez said in a statement.
The articles allege a pattern of willful misconduct by Noem that undermines congressional authority, constitutional rights, federal law and public trust. The three articles include obstruction of Congress for denying members entrance to DHS facilities, self-dealing for awarding DHS contracts to a company run by the husband of her spokesperson and violation of public trust for allegedly denying due process to detainees.
New Mexico GOP Chair Amy Barela thinks the push for impeachment will not find support among Republicans and believes the DHS secretary has done an amazing job.
“One (article) that stood out to me was willfully obstructed congressional oversight. I don't see how that's been done, because she is actually following orders under President (Donald) Trump to protect our country, to secure our border and to clear out all of the illegal immigrants that are here,” Barela said.
ICE reported 487 arrests in the El Paso sector in 2025. The sector includes the El Paso area and all of New Mexico. Over the past five years, arrests in the El Paso sector have followed national trends, peaking in 2023 with 2,726 arrests, according to ICE data.
The fatal shooting in Minnesota came after a surge in immigration enforcement there. Stansbury said the Trump administration is “very politically motivated,” pointing to child care funding being withheld from five Democratic states. So, she believes a risk for an immigration enforcement surge in Democrat-led New Mexico exists.
“But I do think that our governor has also done a good job of continuing to keep an open line of communication, while also protecting New Mexicans,” Stansbury said.
Courts greenlight payments for Boy Scouts abuse survivors – Oliver Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal
The U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to take up an appeal challenging the Boy Scouts of America's bankruptcy plan, allowing some $2.5 billion in compensation payments to begin flowing to sexual abuse survivors in New Mexico and across the U.S.
Paul Linnenburger, a Santa Fe attorney who represents abuse survivors, estimated that New Mexico claimants will receive payments ranging from several thousand dollars to "many, many times that," possibly more than $1 million.
But more importantly, the settlement provides recognition for the pain and abuse survivors experienced, he said.
"Survivors need closure and they need validation," Linnenburger said Tuesday. "I do think that the arrangement that was reached within the BSA bankruptcy potentially provides that better than a lot of other mass sex abuse bankruptcy proceedings have."
The Boy Scouts of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 after paying about $150 million to resolve some 250 sexual abuse claims, court records show.
"I don't think there's any way that the payments could be reasonable compensation," Linnenburger said. "But you know, it will be compensation. It is a representation of acknowledgment of the wrong and damage that was done."
New Mexico victims were among those who filed lawsuits against the Boy Scouts of America alleging they were sexually abused by adults during their time as scouts. All lawsuits against BSA were stayed after the organization filed for bankruptcy.
A federal bankruptcy court in Delaware allowed abuse survivors to file claims, even if they had not filed lawsuits. As of November 2020, 82,209 survivors nationwide had filed claims valued at as much as $3.6 billion. Negotiations established a $2.48 million settlement trust to pay victims.
Linnenburger said he did not know how many New Mexicans filed claims.
The settlement trust includes $1.6 million obtained from BSA's insurance companies, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit wrote in May in an order upholding the bankruptcy settlement.
Under BSA lie some 250 local councils incorporated as nonprofits under state law that contributed some $400 million to the settlement trust, the order said.
The settlement also involved the sale of dozens of properties formerly owned by BSA, the order said.
Linnenburger said he does not believe BSA sold its Philmont Scout Ranch in Colfax County, which includes 140,000 acres of wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Officials at the Philmont Scout Ranch did not return messages seeking comment this week.
A bankruptcy judge approved a settlement agreement in 2022. But some victims appealed the ruling, arguing that survivors should be able to file separate claims against local councils and other third-party organizations that supported BSA programs.
The Third Circuit affirmed the bankruptcy plan in May. And on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal, allowing the settlement to go forward.
A local council in New Mexico, the Great Southwest Council Inc. based in Albuquerque, referred questions this week to its national organization, Scouting America.
"This is an important moment of healing and closure that survivors have long deserved," Scouting America said in a written statement. The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court culminates five years of collaboration among abuse survivors, Scouting America, local councils and insurance companies, it said.
"This action by our nation's highest court means that our plan is now final and irrevocable, and the Settlement Trust established under the reorganization plan can now expedite the payment of compensation to survivors of historical abuse," Scouting America said in the statement.