Trump administration's $46 billion 'smart wall' races ahead on the US-Mexico border - By Rebecca Santana, Associated Press
For decades, all that separated the U.S. from Mexico was barbed wire.
Now, after a massive infusion of cash from Congress, President Donald Trump's administration is swiftly building what it has dubbed a "smart wall," a combination of 30-foot-tall (9-meter-tall) steel fencing and an array of sophisticated technology like sensors, cameras and towers allowing Border Patrol to surveil the territory.
The wall is under heavy scrutiny for the billions of dollars being dedicated to it when border crossings are at their lowest in decades. Critics say the U.S. is militarizing the border as it increasingly deploys sophisticated surveillance technology to the area, impacting local communities.
"We are seeing a massive expansion of surveillance and surveillance technology across the borderlands," said Ricky Garza, border policy counsel at the Southern Border Communities Coalition, an advocacy group. "The wall in all its forms is harmful to communities."
Officials say the technology is complementary to the physical wall and frees up agents for other tasks.
"It's a smart wall. It's not just a barrier," Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said during recent congressional testimony. "It maximizes the use of our most valuable resource, which is our agents."
Contracts for hundreds of miles of wall already inked
The wall has been a top priority for Trump, a Republican, since he first ran for president.
During the administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, the border emerged as a flashpoint, with thousands of people seeking to cross into the country each day. Those numbers started to taper off shortly before Trump returned to office last year and then slowed to a trickle, with his broader immigration crackdown serving as a deterrent for would-be migrants.
Flush with $46 billion to finish the wall after an infusion by Congress for immigration enforcement, CBP is inking tens of billions of dollars in contracts to build the wall and push along the president's signature project.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said recently that a preliminary part of the wall will be finished by "this time next year." Scott said his agency is putting up 6 miles (10 kilometers) of wall a week.
Hundreds of miles had already been built before Trump returned to office. As of mid-June 2026, CBP has erected another 74 miles (119 kilometers) and aims to build hundreds more. There is no wall planned for roughly 535 miles (861 kilometers) of the roughly 2,000-mile-long (3,200-kilometer-long) border, because rugged terrain already serves as a barrier. Ground sensors and towers will be used instead.
CBP is also going back to hundreds of miles of already built wall and adding more technology, lights and roads. Along the long stretches of river in Texas that mark the border with Mexico, they're deploying 12- to 15-foot-long (3.7- to 4.5-meter-long) cylinder-shaped buoys meant to keep migrants or smugglers from crossing the border.
More technology being deployed on the border
Technology is playing a greater role in the Trump administration's effort to make illegal crossings along the border more difficult, part of a broader transformation of CBP in the years since Sept. 11, 2001, into an intelligence operation with a mass surveillance network whose reach extends far beyond the nation's frontiers, according to reporting by The Associated Press.
And critics say the border technology poses a threat.
The Southern Border Communities Coalition says surveillance technologies can push migrants into more dangerous routes to avoid being detected.
Garza, the group's policy counsel, warned that surveillance technology infringes on the privacy rights of border residents and that locals have found ground sensors used to detect smuggler or migrant traffic placed on their property without their consent.
Nayda Alvarez and her relatives own land along the Rio Grande roughly 125 miles (200 kilometers) inland from the Gulf of Mexico. She has found cameras placed on her family's land, and just last week she spotted a surveillance tower about a quarter of a mile (almost half a kilometer) down the river from her house.
"Are we expecting a war or something?" she said. "It doesn't make me feel safer."
Dave Maass, director of investigations for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on civil liberties related to digital technology, said the technology has made the border area "a hostile environment" for locals and would-be migrants.
The foundation has published a guide on the various types of surveillance towers in use along the southern border designed to help local residents.
These can range from fixed towers with video, infrared and radar technologies that have a range of roughly 8 miles (13 kilometers) to remote video surveillance systems that have cameras and a spotlight fixed on top. Some are mounted on the backs of trucks so agents can drive them to different parts of the border.
Increasingly, these towers are autonomous. They can scan an area, analyze what they're seeing using artificial intelligence and alert Border Patrol agents to something suspicious. Proponents say this helps keep Border Patrol agents out in the field instead of sitting in front of computer screens watching for activity. But it also increases AI decision-making along the border when experts have warned about the technology's potential for bias or other problems.
The big GOP tax cuts and spending bill passed by Congress last summer requires that CBP buys only the autonomous towers, and the department is deploying an additional 95.
Underground, buried fiberoptic cables can sense movement, capturing data that is also then analyzed by AI.
"We follow the contour of the land. We go through trees. We go down into the river banks. We can go absolutely everywhere," said Magnus McEwen-King, CEO of Sintela, which has a contract with CBP to install the cables. He spoke at a recent border security expo in Phoenix, where some of the technology was on display.
CBP also uses ground sensors and trail cameras to detect smuggling routes.
Concerns over cost and future plans
The nonpartisan watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense has questioned both the huge amounts of money for the wall-building and whether taxpayers are getting their money's worth.
In 2011, under Democratic President Barack Obama, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano pulled the plug on a project to build a "virtual wall" of integrated technology like radars, sensors and cameras across the entire border after it ran over budget, faced technological glitches and was behind schedule.
Josh Sewell, director of research and policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense, said the organization would like to see more "robust evaluation" of the technologies being used to avoid similar scenarios. And he criticized the Trump administration for lack of oversight on how the money is being spent, a charge CBP has denied, citing "oversight mechanism."
In the Big Bend area of southern Texas, opposition to the department's wall-building plans gathered strong bipartisan support especially in the most sensitive areas that run through a state and national park and a wildlife area.
CBP now says it is not planning to build a 30-foot-high (9-meter-high) bollard wall in those areas. Its recently announced plans include installing patrol roads and some barriers designed to stop cars and using detection technologies.
Clara Benson, who is one of the founders of the No Big Bend Wall coalition, says bright lights in the area designed to illuminate the border could pollute the skies in an area renowned for having some of the best views of the stars. Even without a 30-foot-tall (9-meter-tall) steel wall running through the land, there is concern about CBP's plans.
"There's still a lot of fear and dread that the plan is still going to be quite damaging," she said.
Western US emergency experts say FEMA response still favors East Coast hurricanes over Western fires - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
A group of emergency management experts from Western states convening in Utah this week said Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to prioritize hurricanes and other Eastern perils over much more common wildfires in the West.
A bipartisan group of Western governors, including New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, has gathered in Deer Valley, Utah for the annual Western Governors’ Association conference. Their Wednesday discussion — “The Road Ahead for FEMA” — comes on the heels of a report the FEMA Review Council published in May that suggests, among other recommendations, the federal government should define its role as “supporting” versus “leading” state, local and tribal governments after disasters.
The report also notes that FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which helps state and local governments prevent and limit damage from natural disasters, concentrates on hurricanes, floods and tornadoes, leaving “gaps” when it comes to wildfires, drought and earthquakes.
Ali Rye, the state director for New Mexico’s Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said she found the report “disappointing” because state and local governments are already taking on as much as they can bear.
She also recounted a story of trying to meet with FEMA officials earlier this week at a wildfire summit in Boise, Idaho.
“We were super excited” to speak to officials including President Donald Trump’s nominee for FEMA administrator, Cameron Hamilton, “only for them to get on the screen and tell us that they were too busy to fly to Boise, and instead they had to sit there and brief the president on hurricanes,” she said.
In response, Rye noted that hurricanes are far less common than the wildfires currently running rampant through many Western states.
“We receive a wildfire every single year. And for many of us, especially for us sitting in this room, we don’t just receive one. We have four, five, six,” Rye said.
Lujan Grisham at that point chimed in to note that the state has more than a dozen large, active wildfires, “and then countless other smaller ones” across the state. The New Mexico governor earlier this week approved $500,000 for DHSEM to help support local efforts to combat the McCauley Springs Fire near Jemez Springs, as well as other wildfires throughout the state.
Rye and Lujan Grisham’s comments echoed those of other panelists who said Western states, particularly rural areas, continue to receive less support from FEMA headquarters. Those criticisms come amid ongoing efforts by Trump and the Department of Homeland Security to enact sweeping reforms of the agency.
“Everything that comes out of the federal government is East Coast-centric, or it’s population-dense programs and policies, and the Western states are just kind of an afterthought,” said Kris Hamlet, director of the Utah Division of Emergency Management. “Everything keeps going back to what’s happening in the hurricane states on the East Coast.”
Hamlet urged the governors to advocate as a coalition for more Western-state representation in FEMA decisionmaking.
“We have debris flows and post-fire flooding and other things, but yet we’re waiting for the federal government to decide what they’re going to do with the review of these mitigation dollars that should be coming our way after we’ve had these big fires,” he said, before directing his comments to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat who is the new chair of the Western Governors’ Association. “So for me, Governor, I think just a seat at the table to be represented would go a long way.”
Santa Fe Fire Department responds to structure fire at shuttered St. Catherine's Indian School - Dan Boyd & John Miller, Albuquerque Journal
Smoke and flames poured from the shuttered St. Catherine’s Indian School near Santa Fe National Cemetery on Thursday afternoon, drawing a full response from the city’s fire department.
“The building’s on fire, and it’s spreading in the building, for sure,” said Peter Olson, communications director for the city of Santa Fe.
The fire was reported about 3:45 p.m., prompting a “full callout” from the fire department.
Twenty-seven firefighters, five fire engines, multiple ambulances and additional support vehicles were on scene as of about 6 p.m. The Santa Fe County Fire Department also responded.
Firefighters could be seen directing water at the blaze from multiple angles, pumping approximately 2,800 gallons per minute to suppress flames that leapt skyward, according to an update from the city.
“We’re doing an attack scheme called ‘surround and drown,’ which means surrounding the fire and making sure it doesn’t spread,” Olson said.
Personnel from Santa Fe Public Utilities Department were also on hand to help ensure adequate water pressure. The city asked residents to “limit water use” as crews continued to battle the fire.
The defunct school is on Rio Grande Avenue, near Griffin Street, across from a large residential area on the edge of downtown.
Nervous neighbors gathered to watch firefighters respond to the blaze, with some saying they planned to pack up their belongings in case of an evacuation order.
“I looked out my window and said, ‘Oh my God,’” one resident told the Journal.
The former Indian boarding school, also known as St. Catherine’s Indian School for Boys, consists of 19 buildings on the city’s northwest side, adjacent to Rosario Chapel and Cemetery, according to the Historic Santa Fe Foundation. The campus has been closed since 1998 and is now owned by the city of Santa Fe.
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Deb Haaland has said her maternal grandparents were both sent to the school, and has talked openly about the generational trauma of the boarding school policies.
A suspect was taken into custody in connection with the fire, according to the city, but no further details had been released Thursday evening regarding any criminal charges or the exact cause of the blaze.
NMDOJ seeks records related to federal drug agents’ fentanyl investigations in NM - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Department of Justice on Thursday announced it was demanding a wide array of records related to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s fentanyl investigations in New Mexico between 2022 and 2025. That’s the time period during which allegations have been made agents allowed large quantities of the drug to enter communities without seizing them.
NMDOJ officials said the records request New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sent Wednesday to acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and acting DEA Administrator Robert Murphy marks an “important formal step” in the investigation Torrez announced June 26 following a request for one by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
“The people of New Mexico deserve a full accounting of the decisions that allowed deadly fentanyl to reach our communities,” Torrez said in a statement. “This records request is an important step in our investigation to determine what occurred, whether federal policies were followed, and whether anyone should be held accountable.”
The five-page demand for materials seeks the DEA’s policies, investigative reports, communications between agents and prosecutors, court filings, whistleblower complaints and an array of other materials that could shed light on an operation that the NMDOJ said allowed millions of pills to flow un-seized through Albuquerque and other New Mexico communities.
The letter urges the federal agencies to produce the records by July 31 or, barring that, to produce a timeline by which it would provide them that reflects the “urgency and gravity of this matter.”
In statements to the Albuquerque Journal and Associated Press, which first reported on the DEA’s practice and a 2023 whistleblower complaint, the DEA has said its decisions were lawful and consistent with department guidance, and the administration defended the practice by saying agents allowed fentanyl to enter communities in hopes of catching high-level dealers and suppliers further down the line.
The revelations have prompted swift outcries from local, state and federal elected officials, as well as calls for congressional and other investigations. The officials have noted New Mexico has ongoing struggles with opioid addiction and overdoses. Lujan Grisham and other state officials on Monday called for the state to receive restitution from the federal government over the alleged activity.
The state’s drug overdose death rate has been one of the highest in the nation for most of the last two decades, and has more than tripled since 1990.
In such an environment, Torrez said in the statement that the NMDOJ expects the federal government to “cooperate fully so we can establish the facts and provide New Mexicans the answers they deserve.”
New Mexico regulators order Blackstone, TXNM to unwind $400 million stock sale - Juston Horwath, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico regulators on Thursday moved to unravel a $400 million stock sale that gave Blackstone Inc. a foothold in the state’s largest electric utility, ruling that the transaction should have gone through a review process it never received.
The three-member New Mexico Public Regulation Commission voted 2-1 on the order, siding with hearing examiners who recommended in early June that commissioners reverse the sale of 8 million shares of TXNM Energy Inc. stock to Blackstone. The sale gave the private equity firm a 7.59% stake in TXNM.
The companies must show within 45 days that they are complying with the order. The order includes $100,000 in fines against TXNM and $200,000 against Blackstone affiliates.
The vote is a major setback for Blackstone’s efforts to acquire TXNM, which is the parent company of Public Service Company of New Mexico. The commission did not ask Blackstone and TXNM to refile their acquisition application itself, as some parties had requested.
Instead, the commission late Thursday published an order that alters the procedural schedule of the case, which was set to begin in mid-August.
New Energy Economy Executive Director Mariel Nanasi, an intervenor in the case, said the order cancels hearings tied to that schedule, meaning that the commission will likely not be able to decide on the case by the end of the year.
“Another huge victory today — and possibly the nail in the coffin” for the deal, she said.
The hearing examiners in their June report said the transaction violated a law prohibiting utility mergers without prior approval from the PRC. TXNM and Blackstone argued the stock sale was not connected to the proposed $11.5 billion sale of the energy-holding company, which was filed with state regulators in August.
Neither Blackstone nor TXNM answered whether they would proceed with the acquisition or how they would unwind the stock transaction. Blackstone declined to comment. A TXNM spokesperson said the company is evaluating its options.
“It is important to us that our customers know that the stock issuance was completed in good faith, publicly disclosed well in advance and undertaken with no intent to circumvent any rules or regulatory requirements,” TXNM spokesperson Lisa Goodman said.
In a statement, the commission said parties will have a chance to comment on the compliance filing before determining “the appropriate procedural path for the acquisition case.”
Regulatory compact
Commissioners Pat O’Connell and Gabriel Aguilera voted in favor of enforcing the hearing examiners’ recommended decision.
Greg Nibert voted against the proposal, saying that requiring the companies to unwind the stock sale will harm TXNM’s finances — and by extension more than half a million ratepayers in the state.
But Nibert’s argument did not prevail.
“You’ve got to follow the law or else the regulatory compact doesn’t work,” O’Connell said.
Don Tarry, president and CEO of TXNM, in June testified to the commission that TXNM has already used the $400 million in proceeds from the stock sale.
“Specifically, among other things, this funding was used to pay down TXNM debt (and) to provide equity contributions and term loans” for PNM and Texas-New Mexico Power Co., Tarry said.
Albuquerque nonprofit Prosperity Works filed a motion earlier this year saying the stock transaction violated New Mexico law, triggering a review of the issue by the commission.
Steven Michel, a Santa Fe lawyer who represented the nonprofit before the commission, pointed to a $350 million termination fee baked into the agreement that requires Blackstone to pay TXNM that amount under certain circumstances.
“They’ve never not been able to raise capital,” he said when asked about concerns that unwinding the sale will harm TXNM’s credit.
Dozens of protesters who oppose the proposed sale gathered outside the Roundhouse before the hearing began. The hearing had to be moved to a larger room inside the Roundhouse to accommodate the audience.
The commission chair asked the audience how many people supported the deal. Nobody raised their hands.
“Ensure that New Mexicans don’t have to pay money to these billionaires,” Sadie Gónzales Root told commissioners. “Don’t let the bad guys win.”
The only support for the deal came from some elected officials.
Rep. Meredith Dixon, an Albuquerque Democrat, said she supported the acquisition, calling it an “economic-development driver.”
“This investment creates the long-term stability needed to grow the company,” Dixon said.
Sen. Gabriel Ramos, a Republican from Silver City, said he supports the merger because Blackstone will provide money “to stabilize our infrastructure.”
Stephanie Telles, an Albuquerque city councilor, said she did not support the merger.“Before the deal has even been approved, they’ve already demonstrated a willingness to ignore the laws that govern them,” she said.
Archdiocese of Santa Fe to close 2 Catholic schools - KOB-TV
The Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe announced this week it is closing two Catholic schools due to declining enrollment and financial challenges.
KOB-TV reports that Holy Ghost Catholic School in Albuquerque and Holy Cross Catholic School in Santa Cruz, near Española, will close.
The archdiocese said Catholic education remains a key church ministry, but said its future depends on support from families, parishes and other backers.