Two family members describe recent ICE arrests in Santa Fe - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Two relatives of people whom federal immigration agents arrested Wednesday in Santa Fe spoke out at a news conference Thursday, during which New Mexico elected officials decried the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s tactics in what they described as a spree of immigration arrests in the city this week.
Madeline Pernillo, 18, and Yajaira Gutierrez, 19, described ICE’s arrests of their relatives in two separate events Wednesday. Their relatives are two of as many as 16 arrests that local immigrant advocates have identified in Santa Fe and surrounding communities recently, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico.
Pernillo’s description matches one of the more high-profile arrests this week in the parking lot of La Familia’s Alto Street clinic, which resulted in the father of an 11-year-old girl being arrested.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Source NM on Thursday that agents “conducted a targeted enforcement operation” against a man they identified as Edgar Chacon-Miranda when they saw him park at the medical center.
Pernillo said the man ICE arrested is her uncle. He had just stepped out of the car Wednesday with his 11-year-old daughter before a medical appointment at La Familia’s Alto Street clinic when ICE agents approached their car.
“Just as they were getting out of the car, they were surrounded by ICE agents,” Pernillo said in Spanish. “The agents began questioning the girl, asking for her father’s name, how many siblings she had and if she knew her mother’s name. When she innocently gave her mother’s name, she became upset and started crying.”
After that, agents began threatening to break the car’s windows if Chacon-Miranda did not get out of the car. Chacon-Miranda complied and agents arrested him, Pernillo said.
“As the agents handcuffed him, my 11-year-old cousin was left traumatized,” she said. “She now wakes up crying at night.”
The statement from the unnamed DHS spokesperson described Chacon-Miranda as a “criminal illegal alien” with an extensive criminal history, including arrests for battery against a household member, criminal sexual penetration, child abuse and child abandonment.
Court records show Chacon-Miranda was accused of those crimes in Santa Fe in 2018, but the charges were later dropped due to the case not being prosecuted within time limits.
Immigration attorney Allegra Love, who is representing Chacon-Miranda, blasted ICE in a phone interview with Source NM for suggesting her client was violent or a criminal when he’s never been convicted. She noted he successfully applied to receive lawful permanent resident status after the charges were dropped.
“He actually qualifies for a green card in the United States despite these charges because he was never convicted of them,” Love said. “That has to mean something, but it doesn’t mean something to ICE. It doesn’t mean anything to ICE.”
The arrest at the clinic parking lot has sparked outrage from local elected officials, who said ICE should not make immigration-related arrests at medical facilities, as well as other community locations such as churches and schools. U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), who convened the Thursday news conference, has introduced legislation to prohibit ICE from arresting people at what she referred to as “sensitive places” like the clinic.
“ICE should stay away. They used to stay away under the Biden administration. They used to stay away when it was Obama,” Leger Fernández said. “It was Trump and his cruel and corrupt policies that have decided, ‘No, there is no safe and sacred place from their raids,’ and so we are also calling upon ICE to start respecting the Constitution.”
Pernillo said her uncle, a father of three, was “simply fulfilling his duty as a father” when ICE arrested him.
“At that moment, my cousin should have been thinking about school, not the moment her father was torn away from her,” she said.
As for the second arrest, Gutierrez said she was with her mother-in-law, whom she identified as 43-year-old Adriana Ruiz, on the way to a medical appointment for Gutierrez’s 2-month-old baby, who was hooked up to an oxygen machine.
Gutierrez said they were getting into their car when ICE agents approached.
“We asked for the paperwork required for such stops, but they refused to show it and gave us false information,” Gutierrez said in Spanish. “They claimed they were looking for a car that didn’t even match my mother-in-law’s vehicle. We tried to reason with them, but all we got were threats.”
Ruiz stepped out of the car and agreed to be arrested “for the sake of my daughter,” Gutierrez said.
“She did it for her granddaughter because we want safety for our families. We just want to live a normal life like any other human being,” she said. “No one is different, and everyone has rights, but apparently, that doesn’t apply in this case.”
A DHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to Source NM’s request for comment about Ruiz’s arrest Thursday. Gutierrez told Source NM after the news conference that she is very concerned about her mother-in-law, who has health problems. Gutierrez said she and other relatives still do not know where ICE agents took Ruiz or whether she is receiving medical care.
“We are just worried,” she said.
State House Majority Floor Leader Rep. Reena Szczepanski (D-Santa Fe) and advocates Somos Un Pueblo Unido, an immigrant advocacy organization, also spoke at the news conference. Szczepanski touted the state Legislature’s recent enactment of a bill that bans public entities from helping ICE detain immigrants, and she said lawmakers are actively considering more immigration-related proposals.
All speakers said they are working on fighting back against Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
“No one in Santa Fe or in New Mexico or in this country should have to decide between taking their children to school or to a medical appointment for fear of exposing their families to immigration enforcement,” said Gabriela Ibańez Guzman, an attorney with Somos Un Pueblo Unido.
The City of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County issued a joint statement Thursday that both governments “reaffirm our commitment to the safety, dignity, civil liberties and rights of everyone who calls Santa Fe home,” and noted that neither city police nor the county sheriff participated in the federal immigration agency’s arrests.
Protesters took to the streets in Santa Fe Thursday evening by the state Capitol in response to the ICE arrests.
Wildlife officials have euthanized more than 100 bears this year - Matthew Reisen, Albuquerque Journal
The New Mexico Department of Wildlife has captured and killed 129 black bears following depredation complaints around the state this year, and another 58 have been killed by property owners after being caught in the act of killing livestock or breaking into homes.
Darren Vaughan, a Department of Wildlife spokesperson, said 13 of the bears euthanized by the agency were captured in the Albuquerque area, which includes Tijeras, Cedar Crest and Sandia Park.
“The Department’s priority is to keep bears alive and prevent them from becoming habituated to people,” he said. “The public can help in these efforts by eliminating attractants from their yards, which will prevent bears from becoming habituated to human-provided food sources.”
On Thursday, Navajo Police said a man was killed by a bear in Crystal, on the Navajo Nation by the Arizona border. Officers chased the bear into the woods and killed it. It was the second bear attack this year, in the first, a man was bitten while walking his dogs in Cedar Crest.
That bear was one of the 129 captured and euthanized by DOW. Others were euthanized after killing livestock and encroaching into public areas, among other reasons.
Additionally, Vaughan said, 35 adult bears and 16 cubs have been relocated this year, including 10 adults and six cubs from the Albuquerque area.
“However, bears move quickly and can reach populated areas within a matter of days,” he said. “Unfortunately, this often leaves the Department with a difficult decision in the interest of preserving human safety.”
Vaughan said the department does not have “a firm number” of bear sightings in the Albuquerque area, but they likely number in the hundreds.
“During years of extreme drought like we are experiencing now, we have seen similar substantial bear activity,” he said, adding that this year’s bear activity is similar to 2011 and 2013.
It is unclear how many bears have been euthanized or relocated in past years as the department did not respond to follow-up questions.
There are several thousand black bears in New Mexico, the majority concentrated in the northern part of the state, and several hundred are killed each year through licensed hunting.
For months, videos and photos have flooded social media showing bears in populated areas of Albuquerque, Santa Fe and other locales around the state. On Tuesday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham posted photos on X of bears rummaging through garbage, saying the state has seen the highest number of human-bear conflicts in over a decade.
“Low snowpack, high temperatures and limited precipitation have reduced the natural foods bears depend on this year,” she said. “Hungry bears are traveling farther from their natural habitats in search of food, including into our neighborhoods. Once a bear finds an easy meal in a backyard, it’s likely to return.”
As the issue has escalated, the Department of Wildlife has sent out multiple flyers asking the public to help keep bears away by securing trash cans, clearing yards of fallen fruit, and storing pet food and birdseed inside, among other measures. In a video release, DOW Carnivore and Small Mammal Program Manager Nick Forman said that while droughts have become more common the past decade, 2026 is different.
Forman said droughts over the past several years still brought precipitation at “the right times of year” to keep bear populations fed and reproducing — the green grass of spring snowmelt, berry flushes brought on by midsummer rains and a bumper piñon season from monsoons.
Due to a historically low snowpack, high temperatures and lacking precipitation, less green grass and a substandard berry flush “put us at a deficit,” he said. While their natural habitats have less food to offer, bear populations are high compared to past seasons — leading more bears to search elsewhere.
A second chance
When bear cubs are captured by the Department of Wildlife but too young to fend for themselves, they often end up at Cottonwood Rehab in Española.
Nirankar Horak, executive director at Land of Enchantment Wildlife Foundation, said they are currently caring for eight cubs — four from mothers who were euthanized, including the one who bit the man in Cedar Crest as he walked his dogs.
She said the other cubs came from the Mescalero Apache reservation, Santa Fe, San Felipe, Jemez Pueblo and two from Galisteo, where their mother was captured after attacking livestock and breaking into a home.
“Subsequently, she was euthanized — trying to prevent that behavior from being taught to the cubs. Ultimately, it's one of the few really bad things a bear can do that puts them on a short list,” Horak said. “Several of them were separated from mom and we don't know how or why, they were just so starving that they needed to come in.”
She said the rehab has received up to 17 bears in a year previously. This year, they have gotten six cubs within a few weeks, “which is a lot all at once.” The staff does activities to teach cubs how to forage, hiding bugs under logs and leaving elk legs in their enclosures.
The rehab takes donations but, she said, often has to turn down offers of cow meat or chickens as they don’t want the cubs to learn to eat domestic livestock.
Horak said they will also tailor the diet to where a bear came from, like fish and sunflowers for Hishii, the cub from Mescalero, “teaching them flavors they can look for.” To teach cubs to avoid humans, they make themselves big and yell when they approach the enclosures.
Dr. Kathleen Ramsay, who founded the rehab, has taken in 700 cubs over 40 years, and, Horak said, only three have ever ended up in a facility for being unreleasable. As the sole bear rehabbers in the state, they have also seen cubs from Texas and Arizona.
Horak said they will collaborate with the Department of Wildlife on where the bears are released and aim to do so as other mothers and cubs are coming out of hibernation.
“We learned very quickly that the best thing to do is just find a good area and release them, they will find their home. They don't want to be put where we leave them,” she said. One cub they released was found 20 years later in Steamboat Springs. "He was a bear that was at the end of his life, but he made quite a long journey and many years in the wild.”
Of the hundreds of bear cubs they have released, Horak said fewer than 10 have “gotten in trouble after release.”
“It's been very, very rare that we've had bears in a bad season end up becoming problem bears,” she said. The cubs they have currently have names like Helen — named by the woman whose property she came from — and Snow Jr., named after the nickname of the Jemez officer who brought the cub in.
Next weekend, the rehab will host its annual fundraiser Bear Dinner and Bear Fest in Los Alamos to teach people how to live responsibly around wildlife.
“I know it's really hard because we have so many people who want to feed them and want to provide water … but having those sources will mean a bear is going to stick around a neighborhood longer, which increases its likelihood to get into trouble, which increases its likelihood of an unsuccessful relocation and ultimately a life lost,” Horak said.
Some sacrifices can be hard, she said, like putting your bird feeders up if a bear is in the area. While the bear should move on, “Your birds will come back, I promise.”
New Mexico health officials warn of possible long ‘mosquito season,’ West Nile Virus risk - Source New Mexico
New Mexico Department of Health officials on Thursday said residents should prepare for a possible extended mosquito season, and people with weakened immune systems should be particularly cautious about avoiding bites.
Mosquitos transmit West Nile Virus, with cases normally arising in late summer. However, officials said fall forecasts of heavier rain and higher temperatures could extend the risk of mosquitos-born illnesses well into fall.
“With above-average rain and heat forecasted for New Mexico through October, mosquito season may last longer than usual,” NMDOH state public health veterinarian Dr. Erin Phipps said in a statement. “West Nile virus is expected to persist until the first local hard freeze.”
A state health news release cited new studies showing people taking medications that affect the immune systems known as B cell-depleting or B cell-modulating medications face higher risks for severe disease from viruses such as West Nile, and recommended residents on such medications discuss those impacts with their doctors.
Officials also urged residents to take precautions against mosquito bites by using repellants approved by the Environmental Protection Agency; wearing long sleeves and pants at dusk and dawn; removing any water-holding items from the home or yard; and ensuring doors and windows have secure screens to keep mosquitos out. People can call the DOH helpline with questions at 1-833-SWNURSE; or text 66364.
Frijoles Fire grows to roughly 15,000 acres, creates smoke concerns - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The lightning-caused Frijoles Fire burning in the Pecos Wilderness as of Thursday morning had grown to just under 14,000 acres, with officials reporting 31% containment.
A news release said Wednesday’s weather had influenced fire behavior and pushed smoke into nearby communities, particularly in low-lying areas.
The state health and environment departments on Wednesday issued a smoke advisory, and announced two additional air monitors at the Nambe Community Center and the Harold L. Runnels Building, along with a third planned for Mora to measure the fine particulate matter associated with wildfire smoke.
In a statement, Dr. Chelsea Langer, NMDOH bureau chief of the environmental health epidemiology bureau, said given the decreasing air quality in the area of the fire, officials were encouraging residents “to stay indoors and set up a clean room, which is a place designed to keep inside air as clean as possible. To keep indoor air clean, limit how much outdoor air is coming inside, and keep air that is already inside clean by not burning candles or incense, not using air fresheners or other strong scented products, and not smoking or vaping indoors.”
Residents can also monitor the Air Quality Index, in which higher numbers indicate more pollution and health risks, online at fire.airnow.gov. As of Thursday morning, monitors showed unhealthy air quality throughout Santa Fe.
“We have been proactively working with government partners to ensure communities have the most up-to-date information available through our monitoring system,” New Mexico Environment Department Air Quality Bureau Chief Cindy Hollenberg said in a statement. “Fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke can contribute to respiratory issues and other health impacts with higher risk community members, which is why we want to provide as much data as possible.”
Fire officials say they have 866 personnel on the fire, with “steep, rugged terrain in the wilderness” continuing to “challenge firefighters’ ability to safely access remote areas and use direct extinguishment strategies along the fire’s edge.”
While evacuation orders are limited to an area of the small village of Cundiyó, residents in the rest of Cundiyó, as well as Cerro Piñon and Borrego Mesa area, remain in “set” status, meaning they should keep tabs on emergency alerts and create a plan to safely flee the wildfire.
Internal situation reports that the California incident command team in charge of the fire show that 11 people have evacuated due to the fire, and three others are sheltering in place.
The reports also show that no structures have yet been burned in the fire. However, they identified more than 100 structures at risk at the nearby Gorham Boy Scout Ranch, Canyon Chimayó and the rest of Cundiyó.
In addition, more than 1,000 structures in Truchas, which is nine miles north of the wildfire’s northern edge, are at risk, the reports show.
The report, known as an ICS-209 report, which Source NM reviewed Thursday, also describes staffing and other challenges firefighters face as they seek to build containment lines and allow residents to return home.
The report says “steep terrain and poor access” are increasing time required to complete containment lines. In addition, “limited crews qualified to work in these areas” are slowing progress, as the most-specialized teams, known as Type 1 crews, are regularly being shifted between areas of the fire to try to contain the fire in difficult terrain.
“This, in turn, is preventing cohesive line construction that can gain containment and shorten the duration of public displacement from their homes,” an incident commander wrote Wednesday afternoon.
In addition, the team’s window for weather conditions favorable for tackling the blaze is “narrowing as a return to unseasonably high temperatures and record-low relative humidities is expected to affect the area and drastically increase fire behavior,” the commander wrote.
The ongoing fire behavior, as well as prolonged smoke exposure and forest closures, are “significantly reducing” economic activity in the area, including fairs, festivals, camping and “once-in-a-lifetime” draw hunts for bighorn sheep in the Pecos Wilderness, the commander wrote.
