Doña Ana County updates immigrant safety resolution - Algernon D’Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
Doña Ana County commissioners unanimously voted Tuesday to update a 12-year-old “safe communities” resolution with new guidance protecting immigrant and blended communities in their interactions with county government.
Reflecting changes in immigration enforcement since 2014, the update includes new language separating county services and personnel from federal enforcement actions amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The resolution instructs county employees to respect the rights of all residents, regardless of immigration status, and precludes county staff or resources from assisting in federal immigration enforcement.
“This resolution is really about creating a safe environment for people to interact with Doña Ana County and our employees,” Deputy County Attorney Cari Neill said. “We want to ensure that everyone is being treated equally and fairly.”
County staff as well as attendees from the community of Chaparral said the updated resolution will help keep communities stable and serve public safety by easing community members’ fears of contacting emergency agencies, accessing schools or health clinics, reporting crimes or benefiting from services — fears speakers said affected citizens and legal residents as well as those unable to produce documentation or waiting for immigration proceedings.
State Rep. Sarah Silva, a Las Cruces Democrat whose district includes Chaparral, told commissioners of reports in the small unincorporated community of unmarked vehicles prowling the community and schools, discouraging attendance and the use of surveillance cameras in public spaces by federal authorities.
“We are here as a county to serve our residents. It is not about checking immigration status,” County Chairman Manny Sanchez said.
Although the sheriff’s office typically does not gather information on civil immigration status to provide to federal authorities, local authorities may notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under some circumstances, according to an information packet provided to commissioners.
Since October, New Mexico’s two largest cities, Albuquerque and Las Cruces, as well as Bernalillo County have taken similar actions to extend protections and welcome immigrants in local government spaces and emergency services.
New Mexico enacted a law this year, taking effect May 20, preventing public bodies from contracting with federal authorities to hold civil immigration detainees. The U.S. Department of Justice has sued to block enforcement of the law, called the Immigrant Safety Act.
No one from the public spoke in opposition to the Doña Ana County resolution, while members of the clergy, community organizations and county residents applauded the action.
Sister Isabel Galbe of Chaparral told commissioners that while some in her community were more afraid of taking meals at the community center and accessing other services, residents had also found strength in banding together.
“I am extremely proud to find in myself the faces of the people of Chaparral that has been affected by the negative impact of these unruly, unwanted visits from people outside of the community,” she said.
Southwest flight from Albuquerque makes emergency landing after windshield cracks midflight - Gillian Barkhurst, Albuquerque Journal
A Southwest Airlines flight from Albuquerque bound for Baltimore made an emergency landing Monday after the plane’s front windshield cracked midflight.
Though outer panes of the windshield cracked, the cabin did not depressurize and passengers of Flight 2665 disembarked unharmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after the emergency landing Monday afternoon, Southwest spokesperson Lynn Lunsford said in a statement Tuesday.
“The flight landed uneventfully and customers were reaccommodated to Baltimore on another aircraft,” the Dallas-based company said in an official statement Tuesday. “We appreciate the professionalism of our flight crew. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees.”
Officials at Southwest did not elaborate about what caused the crack.
The aircraft was two and a half hours into its flight when pilots decided to make an emergency landing, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. Before landing, the plane had reached an altitude of 39,000 feet and was traveling at speeds of 518 mph, according to FlightAware.
After passengers disembarked, the plane taxied on the runway before docking at a terminal at the Tulsa International Airport.
The next day, the plane was expected to be airborne again.
The Boeing 737 jetliner was scheduled to fly to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday, according to FlightAware.
Water board advances petition for new rules on New Mexico’s oil and gas wastewater - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Members of the state water quality board voted Tuesday to restart a lengthy rule-making process to expand the uses of oil and gas wastewater in New Mexico, potentially overturning rules not even a year old.
The New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission vote advanced a petition from a trade association requesting new rulemaking over objections from water and environmental advocacy groups. Seven WQCC members voted in favor, four voted against the proposal and one member abstained. A dayslong hearing will be scheduled at a later date.
The rulemaking marks the second in a year requested by the Water, Access, Treatment and Reuse Alliance, a trade association developed in 2024 advocating for expanded use of oil and gas wastewater. Board members include major oil and gas companies, including Chevron and ConocoPhillips.
Advocates for the proposal — including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Republican lawmakers in both chambers and local officials from Lea and San Juan Counties — have said the water, if treated, will ease strain on freshwater supplies. The petition requested the board to allow 13 counties to use in construction, industry and potentially in agriculture. The current rule, adopted in May 2025, only allows for uses on oil and gas fields and limited pilot projects.
Opponents to expanded use say the science for treating oil and gas wastewater — which is toxic and can contain salts, heavy metals, radioactive materials and proprietary chemicals that are considered trade secrets — remains limited. Opponents also argue the petition is incomplete and that the current rules adopted by the WQCC in May 2025 should stay in place.
During the hearing, WQCC Chair Bill Brancard said he would not support the petition as it was, noting significant spaces and gaps in the proposed rule, including for regulations of chemicals that are considered trade secrets. Brancard also said that there were legal issues since the rule only applies to 12 counties and said it would “be unusual for us not to adopt a statewide rule.”
Even commissioners who voted for the petition, such as State Engineer Liz Anderson, said she “shared concerns raised in public comment” and by other board members.
“I have a lot of questions and concerns that would need to be addressed,” Anderson said.
Western Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Tannis Fox, who is representing several environmental groups opposing the petition, called the vote “disappointing but unsurprising.”
“I think in a normal WQCC world, given all the problems this petition has, it wouldn’t go further, but since this is an administration priority, it’s moving forward.”
The WQCC voted last year to toss a July vote on a similar request for new rules after environment groups filed motions seeking to disqualify seven of the WQCC’s members, saying their “impartiality and fairness” had been “compromised by interference” from Lujan Grisham’s office.
The allegation came in response to Santa Fe New Mexican reporting on an emailed exchange in July between staff at the governor’s office and cabinet heads appointed to the WQCC that encouraged them to attend the August meeting in-person and get the Water, Access, Treatment and Reuse (WATR) Alliances petition “over the finish line.”
The governor’s office has previously denied any wrongdoing in WQCC proceedings.
Leah March, deputy director of communications for Lujan Grisham’s office, noted in a statement provided to Source NM Tuesday that the WQCC vote was merely procedural to allow for a fuller hearing “at which the science will be discussed and its merits thoroughly evaluated.”
The governor’s “long-standing priority,” March said, “is to advance science-based solutions to New Mexico’s water crisis, including safe and responsible wastewater reuse that reduces pressure on dwindling freshwater supplies. Today’s commission action establishes a pathway to ensure that all the evidence is on the table before a decision is made.”
Rachel Conn, deputy director of Amigos Bravos, also released a statement noting the history of the situation. “I can’t believe we are back here,” she said. “How many times do we as New Mexicans who care about clean water have to stand up to defeat this ill-advised effort to discharge toxic oil and gas wastewater into our rivers, streams and groundwater?”
Numerous environmental groups similarly decried the WQCC vote on Tuesday.
“This was a political decision, pure and simple,” Colin Cox, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “The same industry that gave us global warming, drought and more earthquakes while denying responsibility at every turn now wants New Mexicans to accept its treated waste in our rivers. The commission made a terrible decision for New Mexico.”
In a statement provided to Source NM, Water, Access, Treatment and Reuse Alliance Co-founder Matthias Sayer expressed appreciation to the WQCC for its “leadership” in “voting to advance our petition for a new rulemaking and giving local communities a voice at the table concerning their water futures.”
Doing so, he said, will allow “for the proper examination of a substantial body of the latest peer-reviewed research from New Mexico universities and other experts showing that produced water can be treated to reach levels of quality that are non-toxic and protective of human health and the environment for defined applications.”
Sayer also responded to opponents, saying, “It is curious that those critics who cite science as their North Star have been so resistant to hearing the latest body of scientific research and advancements. Allegations that politics played a role in the decision ignore the reality that New Mexicans deserve an honest, thorough examination of the science showing how produced water can offer beneficial, environmentally sound solutions, solutions that can help alleviate New Mexico’s water challenges.”
NM Gov. Lujan Grisham endorses candidates for Secretary of State, Legislature - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently endorsed Democratic candidates in the two-way contest for Secretary of State and in the most crowded race for a seat in the state Legislature ahead of the June 2 primary election.
Lujan Grisham endorsed Doña Ana County Clerk Amanda López Askin’s bid for New Mexico Secretary of State. López Askin is running against Santa Fe County Clerk Katharine Clark as incumbent and term-limited Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver campaigns to be the state’s next lieutenant governor. Whoever wins will face Republican Ramona L. Goolsby in the Nov. 3 election.
“New Mexico elections are the best in the country. Amanda has the experience and skills to protect our voting rights, stand up to election deniers and keep our elections safe and fair for all New Mexicans,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement.
Toulouse Oliver also endorsed López Askin as a worthy successor to the office, writing in a statement that “New Mexicans can trust her to stand up to Trump and protect our voting rights.”
Earlier this year, López Askin was a vocal supporter of the Legislature’s new law prohibiting federal agents from interfering in the state’s elections. She and Toulouse Oliver discussed protecting voting rights during a February panel, alongside U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), who has also endorsed López Askin.
Lujan Grisham on Monday also endorsed a state lawmaker whom she appointed to the Legislature in 2025. Rep. Martha Garcia (D-Pine Hill) has represented District 6, which includes Cibola and McKinley counties in northwest New Mexico, since the late Rep. Eliseo Alcon stepped down due to health concerns.
Garcia is a former Cibola County commissioner and is the president of the Ramah Navajo Chapter House.
Her four-way race for the Democratic nomination is the most crowded of any legislative election this year. She faces David Alcon, Eliseo’s son; Priscilla Benally, vice president of the Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education; and Johnny Valdez, a former Cibola County sheriff and recently retired as a Cibola County magistrate judge. The winner is set to face Republican Paul Spencer in the Nov. 3 general election.
In a statement, Lujan Grisham said she was backing Garcia “for the same reason I appointed her in 2025: she is a strong representative for the rural, small-town, and Native communities of Cibola and McKinley counties.”
Las Cruces Diocese fights federal effort to seize Mount Cristo Rey property for border wall - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico The federal government last week revealed it intended to use eminent domain to wrest a 1.3-mile stretch of New Mexico borderland from the Catholic diocese for a border barrier, but church officials in federal court filings Friday argued that doing so would violate their religious freedom.
The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol first announced last summer that it intended to build a border wall along the southern skirt of Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, which the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces owns. Officials told Source NM at the time that site “was a major human smuggling infiltration site for the cartels.”
On Thursday, lawyers for the United States Department of Justice’s Land Acquisition Section escalated their efforts, filing a notice in federal court seeking to seize the roughly 14 acres that comprise the church’s property along the New Mexico-Mexico border. According to the filings, the land would be used to build roads, fences and other structures to “help secure” the border.
In separate filings, the government said it would offer the diocese $180,000 for the property, which government lawyers said was the fair market value of the land.
But on Friday, the diocese, through its lawyers at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy & Protection at Georgetown University Law Center, urged a judge to hold off on a deposit and land title transfer, because the diocese believes such a land seizure violates its First Amendment rights to freedom of religion.
The diocese’s lawyers argued that Mount Cristo Rey is a “holy site” and noted that roughly 40,000 people annually climb Mount Cristo Rey, which has a 29-foot-tall statue of Jesus Christ at its peak, for a religious pilgrimage.
As the federal government has pressured the church over the last year regarding the property, “The Diocese has consistently conveyed that condemnation of the property would substantially burden the free exercise of religion by the Diocese and the faithful who seek to commune with God on Mount Cristo Rey,” the diocese’s lawyers wrote in their filing Friday.
Seth Wayne, the Georgetown University lawyer who authored the filing, told Source NM on Tuesday via email that the diocese will use “all available legal tools to assert its rights and stop this unjust taking.”
“The Government’s attempt to use expedited procedures to condemn Diocesan land to build a border wall is an affront to religious liberty,” he said.
In addition to the diocese’s concern about its religious rights, advocates have raised concerns building a wall in that area will degrade the natural environment and also result in increased immigrant deaths.
U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Gonzales is presiding over the case, according to court filings.
Source New Mexico reporter Danielle Prokop contributed to this report.