Revenue estimate: High oil prices due to Iran war mean $924 million in ‘new’ money for New Mexico – Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
A simmering military conflict more than 7,000 miles away is driving New Mexico revenue collections to unprecedented levels.
Due in large part to high oil prices connected to the U.S.-Iran war, New Mexico is projected to take in $14.5 billion in revenue during the coming budget year, according to new estimates released Wednesday.
That means lawmakers — and the state’s next governor — could have $924.2 million in “new” money to spend in the coming year. New money represents the difference between current total spending and projected revenue.
The surging revenue levels — a 6.7% increase — could also mean hefty infusions into several state trust funds established in recent years, including an early childhood trust fund that’s been tapped to help pay for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s universal child care initiative and a behavioral health fund.
“That additional funding is now flowing into our savings accounts,” state Taxation and Revenue Secretary Stephanie Schardin Clarke told lawmakers during a Wednesday hearing in Farmington.
However, state officials also cautioned Wednesday the state’s surging revenue levels could obscure trouble spots in New Mexico’s economy.
That includes high inflation rates and a labor force participation rate of 56.9% as of June, a figure that remains below the state’s pre-pandemic peak, according to Legislative Finance Committee data.
Legislative Finance Committee chief economist Ismael Torres said the state’s economy is “struggling to find its footing,” but has shown resilience amid uncertainty over tariffs and federal government spending.
The recent spike in oil prices has also meant higher prices at the pump for New Mexico consumers, with an average price statewide of $4.06 per gallon as of Wednesday, according to AAA data.
The high gas prices prompted Lujan Grisham last month to propose rebates of $250 per taxpayer. But that plan has gotten a tepid response from gubernatorial candidates — Democrat Deb Haaland and Republican Gregg Hull — and many state lawmakers.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
New Mexico immigrant advocates warn of ‘uptick’ in ICE arrests in Albuquerque – Patrick Lohmann, Source NM
Members of New Mexico immigration advocacy groups and local elected officials warned Wednesday that they’ve seen a sharp increase in federal immigration arrests in Albuquerque in recent days.
Within the last week or so, group leaders said they’ve received far more phone calls than usual from relatives of Albuquerque residents arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
At a news conference Wednesday, members of one such organization, El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, read anonymous testimonials from four Albuquerque residents recounting the impacts of ICE arrests of their family members Aug. 21.
Leaders of El Centro and New Mexico Immigrant Law Center told Source NM on Wednesday that they do not have an estimate of exactly how many people ICE may have arrested in the city in recent days, but they’re certain ICE has stepped up arrests based on the increase in calls to their respective organizations.
El Centro’s Fabiola Landeros, an immigrant rights organizer, told Source NM her organization has heard from approximately eight family members in the last week; Immigration attorney Emily Alvarez at the Immigrant Law Center said her organization has heard from approximately six family members recently.
“It’s a huge uptick,” Alvarez told Source NM. “We’re dealing with fuzzy numbers, like I’m not able to say exactly, but I think it’s probably the biggest surge in enforcement we’ve seen in our state” since President Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025.
An ICE spokesperson did not immediately respond to Source NM’s request for comment Wednesday.
ICE periodically releases detention data that gives some insight into its arrest activity, including snapshots of detainee populations at facilities in New Mexico and elsewhere. The agency’s most recent data release regarding its July activities shows the agency detained 51,000 people, the highest monthly total during Trump’s second term.
Albuquerque resident Marisol Meyer-DrioVínto shared a video of what she said was one such ICE arrest Sunday morning in Albuquerque, in which ICE officers in unmarked vehicles and masks pulled over a man driving a work truck around 8:30 a.m. in a tree-lined neighborhood.
Albuquerque resident Marisol Meyer-DrioVínto provided Source NM a video of what she said was a federal immigration arrest of a man in a work truck Aug. 23, 2026, in her neighborhood.
The reported ICE activity in Albuquerque in recent days follows reports of increased arrests last week in Santa Fe, where advocates said ICE arrested as many as 16 people over the course of several days. Those arrests prompted outcry from local and federal elected officials, as well as a local protest.
During the news conference Wednesday, Albuquerque City Councilor Stephanie Telles touted the city’s ordinance aimed at protecting immigrants from being arrested in sensitive places like clinics or hospitals and ICE from using city resources to make arrests. She said she has also heard from constituents about an uptick in ICE activity.
“We’re not seeing big raids throughout the city, but we are hearing again and again about cars with blackened windows following our family members throughout the city, with the intent to intimidate and to strike fear,” she said.
US Rep. Vasquez backs 2 federal data center bills as developments come under scrutiny in New Mexico – Joshua Bowling, Source NM
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) on Tuesday announced he had co-sponsored two federal bills aimed at data center transparency.
Vasquez signed on as a co-sponsor to the FAIR Data Act, sponsored by Rep. Josh Riley (D-N.Y.), and the Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act of 2026, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL).
The FAIR Data Act would shield residential electric customers and small businesses from shouldering increased energy costs related to large data centers. The Data Center Water and Energy Transparency Act of 2026 would require developers to provide state and local governments that have data centers, or are considering them, with information pertaining to energy and water consumption. Companies that don’t comply would face fines of up to $20,000 per day.
“New Mexico’s water, air and resources belong to us, not to billionaires from coastal states who see an opportunity to extract profit from our land,” Vasquez said in a statement. “I’ve been appalled at the backroom deals, silencing of dissenting voices, shady NDAs and shell companies, and the overall lack of transparency from those who seek to do business in our state.”
Vasquez’s announcement came one day after his congressional colleague U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) sent a letter to several state agencies demanding detailed information about water usage for Project Jupiter, the Oracle and OpenAI data center under construction in southern New Mexico, which lies in the 2nd Congressional District Vasquez represents.
The only direct mention of Project Jupiter in Vasquez’s announcement was a reference to his July condemnation of a security guard’s use of physical force at a Doña Ana County meeting where residents protested against the development.
Earlier this year, Vasquez called on elected officials in a small New Mexico county to adopt a data center moratorium as a Canadian tech CEO sought to build a massive data center and solar array in their community.
Source NM reported that neither Green Data nor its CEO, Jason Bak, had ever successfully built a data center. Yet Bak’s company sought to build on 10,000 acres in partnership with New Mexico Tech, the local university.
County commissioners ultimately adopted the moratorium and New Mexico Tech nixed the deal, in large part because it didn’t have enough contiguous land to host the development.
“New Mexico should absolutely compete for the jobs and technology of the future, but we are not going to sell out our water, our clean air or our way of life to do it,” Vasquez said in his Tuesday statement. “If you want to do business here, you need to be transparent, listen to local residents, and most importantly, prove to New Mexicans that projects will serve, not steal from, our communities.”
Gubernatorial candidates stake out competing policy positions during congenial forum - Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
With just over two months to go until Election Day, New Mexico’s open race for governor is playing out on a surprisingly civil track.
Gubernatorial candidates Deb Haaland and Gregg Hull staked out their policy differences during a Tuesday forum in Albuquerque, but steered clear of attacks on each other’s stances or records.
Hull, a Republican, drew applause from an estimated crowd of 600 people at the Albuquerque Convention Center when he reiterated his support for eliminating the state’s personal income tax and overhauling the gross receipts tax code.
The former Rio Rancho mayor also took an indirect swipe at Albuquerque, saying store clerks should not have to open locked display cases for customers due to shoplifting concerns, describing such a practice as more prevalent in the state’s largest city than it is in neighboring Rio Rancho.
“Our communities have to take a strong stance on enforcing the laws,” Hull said.
For her part, Haaland, the Democratic nominee, focused much of her comments on affordability issues and stubbornly high inflation rates.
Specifically, she said she would work with the State Land Office to explore building affordable housing units on state trust land. She also left open the door to asking lawmakers to divert money from New Mexico’s permanent funds to help pay for such an effort, along with ramped-up public safety initiatives.
New Mexico’s various trust funds were valued at more than $75 billion as of last week, a figure that puts the state’s total assets among the 30 most valuable sovereign wealth funds in the world, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
“I am ready to have deep conversations with appropriators, the folks who realize how important these things are to New Mexicans,” Haaland said.
A former congresswoman and U.S. interior secretary, Haaland enters the stretch run to this fall’s election as the perceived frontrunner in the race to succeed outgoing Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is barred under the state Constitution from seeking a third consecutive term.
As of July, Haaland had raised more than $13.8 million for her campaign to be the first Native American woman elected as governor, with thousands of donations from around the country.
For his part, Hull has struggled to keep up with Haaland’s fundraising prowess, as he has reported taking in roughly $945,000 in contributions since announcing his campaign.
But the former Rio Rancho mayor has pointed out he won a three-way GOP primary race in June despite being outspent by his two opponents — Doug Turner and Duke Rodriguez. He has also pledged to refrain from negative attacks against his Democratic opponent.
During Tuesday’s hour-long forum, Hull described himself as a consensus-builder who would work to make New Mexico more economically competitive if elected governor.
“We have to start embracing growth, development and opportunity in our state,” Hull said at one point.
But he also said he would support allocating more state funding to build a steady water supply, citing declared water emergencies in Angel Fire and several other New Mexico communities amid ongoing drought conditions.
Haaland also discussed water issues, touting New Mexico’s potential to generate significant power from its geothermal resources. In addition, she expressed support for expanding other types of renewable energy installations in the state.
As she has frequently since launching her campaign for governor in February 2025, Haaland talked openly during Tuesday’s forum about her past reliance on food stamps to make ends meet.
She said New Mexico needs to continue to provide financial relief to its residents amid high gas prices and grocery costs, saying, “Things get more expensive right now by the day in this economy.”
The Tuesday forum was moderated by KRQE-TV anchor Jessica Garate and sponsored by the New Mexico chapter of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, formerly known as NAIOP.
It marked one of the most high-profile joint events the candidates have jointly appeared at since each won contested primary races in June to advance to the November general election.
Haaland and Hull are also slated to face off in at least one televised debate this fall. That debate is scheduled for mid-October on KOB-TV.
Early voting for the general election begins Oct. 6, and Election Day is Nov. 3.
Economists warn New Mexico fund subsidizing healthcare costs will soon run out of money - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
On the heels of a report highlighting New Mexico as the only U.S. state without declining enrollment on its healthcare exchange, legislative analysts warned in a new report released this week that the fund keeping residents’ premiums affordable will soon run out of money.
New Mexico lawmakers in recent legislative sessions approved approximately $40 million in state funds aimed to replace expiring federal tax credits that offered significant insurance premium assistance to roughly 80,000 residents who acquire their insurance from the BeWell exchange.
But a new 55-page report from the Legislative Finance Committee projects that rising health insurance costs, as well as federal cuts and changes that may drive more people to the exchange, will quickly tap the Health Care Affordability Fund, which pays for the expired tax credits.
Without any changes to costs or eligibility, the LFC projects the fund may face a shortfall of $85.3 million by the 2028 fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2027. By fiscal year 2030, the fund will run a projected shortfall of $273 million.
The reasons behind the shortfall vary, the report says, but rising healthcare premium costs constitute one major factor. New Mexico’s four marketplace insurers increased their premiums 34% in 2026, and have proposed an additional 24% increase in 2027, according to the report.
In 2026, United Healthcare raised insurance premiums an average of 52% on 12,000 policyholders. That marks the single biggest increase among the four insurers, and it prompted many United Healthcare policyholders to change carriers, according to the LFC.
Still, BeWell enrollees stayed largely insulated from those increases, thanks to the state subsidies, the LFC found. Despite the hike in costs, low-income New Mexicans comprising more than one-third of BeWell enrollees had zero costs for monthly premiums, according to the report.
The LFC found that more than 25,000 enrollees whose income sits between 100% and 200% of the federal poverty level paid premiums of between $10 and $67 per month, thanks to federal and state assistance, despite their pre-subsidy premiums averaging roughly $845.
The federal poverty level between 100% and 200% captures income between roughly $16,000 and $32,000 for a single person and between $33,000 and $66,000 for a family of four.
But, unlike the other nine states that offset the expiring federal credits to varying degrees depending on income — and only fully replaced the tax credits for low-income earners — New Mexico extended the subsidies to all income levels.
As a result of economists’ projections, the LFC recommended the Health Care Authority, which has discretion over eligibility and benefit amounts, pare back some of the state subsidies.
Specifically, the LFC recommended reducing state premium assistance for all recipients by an unspecified amount, with the greatest reductions imposed on those at incomes above 200% of the federal poverty line. The LFC concluded that the changes may increase both low-income enrollment and also result in coverage loss for those who make 600% or more of the poverty level.
DeAnna Stock, the HCA’s director of coverage and affordability for the Healthcare Affordability Fund, told lawmakers the HCA is “looking at” accepting the LFC economists’ recommendations, which they project would save the fund roughly $75 million in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2027.
Stock added that the authority has hired an actuarial firm to determine a sustainable way to cover as many people as possible, particularly those with the lowest income.
“The HCA does remain committed to prioritizing affordability for individuals and families with the greatest financial need,” she said.
Shooter in 2025 UNM dorm killing takes plea deal – Olivier Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal
A teenager charged in the shooting death last year of 14-year-old Michael LaMotte during a drug-fueled night at the University of New Mexico has taken a plea deal and faces a 12-year prison sentence, court records show.
John Fuentes, 19, pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in LaMotte’s shooting death last summer inside a UNM dorm room.
Fuentes entered the plea agreement on Friday before 2nd Judicial District Judge Brett Loveless.
Prosecutors agreed to cap Fuentes’ prison sentence at 12 years followed by five years of supervised probation, according to the plea agreement.
Court officials must complete a sentencing evaluation before his sentencing hearing is scheduled, a spokeswoman for the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office said.
His trial on charges of second-degree murder, aggravated battery and six other charges, previously scheduled for Sept. 14, has been canceled.
Prosecutors alleged that shortly after midnight on July 24, 2025, Fuentes fatally shot LaMotte in the head and fired a second shot that grazed Daniel Archuleta, a provisional UNM student, in the back of the head.
Fuentes, who was 18 at the time, was treated and released at a hospital and arrested soon after the killing. A judge ordered him last year to remain in custody pending resolution of his case.
During an August 2025 pretrial detention hearing for Fuentes, prosecutors said he was drunk and high on LSD, cocaine and marijuana when he shot LaMotte while playing video games inside a Casas del Rio dorm room. Police say Fuentes also shot Archuleta, the teen who lived in the dorm room. Fuentes then fled the dorm.
LaMotte, who had been in the dorm with the group for several hours, had marijuana in his system at the time of his death, according to a toxicology report. No other drugs were detected.
Gunfire was first reported on the UNM campus shortly before midnight when a dorm resident called 911 and said he heard four or five gunshots close by. Hours later, UNM police entered the Casas Del Rio dorm room and found LaMotte slumped over a chair.
The 14-year-old died from a single gunshot wound to the front of his head, according to an autopsy.
LaMotte's older half-brother, Zion Miera, also was present in the dorm room the night of the shooting.
Miera, 20, pleaded guilty in April to tampering with evidence, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and possession of cocaine and was sentenced to complete the court's Young Adult Court diversion program in lieu of up to six years in prison.
New Mexico Supreme Court announces new term - Source NM Staff
The New Mexico Supreme Court on Tuesday announced its next term will begin on Sept. 4 and will include 45 cases, as well as any necessary expedited appeals.
According to a news release, the court’s first cases will include a challenge to the state Public Regulation Commission’s approval of Public Service Company of New Mexico’s plan to install smart meters for its electric customers (New Mexicans for Utility Safety v. N.M. Public Regulation Commission); an appeal in a medical malpractice case involving the state Superintendent of Insurance’s refusal to pay court-approved settlements from a state fund (Murphy v. N.M. Superintendent of Insurance); and a state appeal of the dismissal of a criminal case in which a defendant was committed for treatment in order to attempt restoring competency in order to stand trial (State v. Carter).
The state Supreme Court, which completed its 2025-2026 term consisting of 65 cases in July, will hold oral arguments in September, October and December and will issue decisions for the forthcoming term on or before July 15, 2027. A schedule and livestream is available on the court’s website.
“The Court’s term system ensures a timely resolution of cases,” Chief Justice Julie J. Vargas said in a statement. “This benefits the parties in the case as well as trial courts, which may need to conduct further proceedings after legal issues are decided on appeal.”
