Bernalillo County sheriff to end Flock contracts amid privacy concerns - Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen said he is in the process of canceling contracts with a controversial surveillance technology company due to what he described as privacy concerns regarding the company’s use of data.
The city of Grants also announced Thursday that it would terminate its contract with Flock, saying “the benefits provided by these cameras do not sufficiently align with the investment required or with the city's overall mission and approach to public safety and security.”
Flock Safety provides surveillance technology, including automatic license plate readers (ALPR), to businesses and law enforcement agencies.
Law enforcement agencies such as the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and the Albuquerque Police Department have said the technology has helped them track vehicles, identify homicide suspects and find missing people across the state.
APD uses another surveillance technology company, Genetec, for ALPR cameras instead of Flock.
“We have successfully used license plate readers to recover stolen vehicles and help reduce auto theft by over 50%,” said Gilbert Gallegos, spokesperson for APD. “This year, license plate readers have been successfully used in 14 solved homicide cases.”
But Flock has come under scrutiny in recent months, with legislators and the public expressing concerns over how data from ALPR cameras is collected and stored.
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on Wednesday launched an investigation into Flock and how the company protects Americans’ data, stating in a letter that Congress “never authorized the network your industry has built.”
New Mexico lawmakers in February passed Senate Bill 40 — titled the Driver Privacy and Safety Act — with the goal of limiting the sharing of drivers' personal information gathered from the technology.
Allen wrote a letter in support of the bill, stating that it would provide safeguards by defining what ALPR data can be used for and creating auditing requirements.
BSCO currently has three contracts with the company for a total of 21 Flock cameras.
One contract is $15,000 for five ALPR cameras that expires in October, another is $56,000 for 16 speed cameras that are connected to the Flock network and the third is a $116,000 contract for gunshot detection devices.
The sheriff said all three contracts are off the table as he searches for a new company to partner with. The speed cameras will remain operational but will solely function as a speed camera.
“If I don’t have complete confidence in a vendor or company, how am I going to tell another law enforcement entity, 'Yeah, go ahead and go with them,’” Allen said.
Flock did not respond to calls for comment.
BCSO will receive retroactive payments for the gunshot detection devices, which were canceled before their term ended, according to BCSO spokesperson Jayme Gonzales.
Allen said over the past year he lost trust in Flock because there are not enough safeguards in place to protect people’s data, and there have been instances where cameras were cut down or destroyed without Flock notifying him until weeks or months later.
Abuses of the technology by law enforcement have also drawn national attention. The Washington Post reported earlier this month on dozens of instances where officers were accused of using the cameras to track romantic partners or family members.
BCSO has a policy in place requiring regular audits of deputies’ Flock usage, and each deputy is required to input a case number in order to access the system. If they cannot justify their usage, they will eventually be banned from using the technology.
Allen said he expected the company to have its own safeguards in place without law enforcement agencies having to implement them independently.
“We audit at least quarterly, if not monthly,” he said. “I’ve just audited two days in a row because I’m making sure we’re not missing any discrepancies.”
The agency keeps collected data for 30 days.
Allen expressed concerns over law enforcement agencies from other counties or states using New Mexico’s data for ill-intended purposes.
An American Civil Liberties Union public records request revealed that New Mexico ALPR cameras were accessed thousands of times by out-of-state law enforcement, including once by Texas law enforcement allegedly tracking a woman seeking abortion care.
The ACLU did not respond to an email for comment about BCSO’s Flock contract.
Allen does not allow Torrance or Curry counties to access data from BCSO because they work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
While Allen said he has issues with Flock, he plans to search for a new vendor in hopes of finding a company with stronger data protection policies, adding that the technology has helped law enforcement in a multitude of ways.
“I'm not looking at getting rid of the technology as a whole. It's the vendor I have a problem with,” he said. “It's a very useful, powerful tool, but it needs to have guardrails and be used correctly.”
Trump administration starts building border wall project in Arizona over tribe's objections - By Mikella Schuettler, Associated Press
The Trump administration has begun work on a project to build a stretch of border wall in southern Arizona along part of a Native American tribe's reservation, pushing ahead with one of its signature projects despite protests from the tribe.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the area is a dangerous smuggling route and that building the wall will close a longstanding security gap. But members of the Tohono O'odham Nation, whose membership spans both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, have accused the administration of trespassing and say the construction will damage land sacred to the tribe.
The wall segment is part of a $46 billion effort by the Trump administration to fill the border with 30-foot (9-meter) steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers, and technology designed to stop undocumented immigration and smuggling.
But as building efforts have ramped up, the administration has run into opposition from landowners, environmental groups, and Native American tribes who say construction is violating property rights and desecrating sacred Indigenous sites.
The Tohono O'odham Nation said in a statement Tuesday that about 20 Customs and Border Protection officers, working with contractors, went onto the tribe's land early that morning to begin construction.
Drone videos published by nation officials show roughly 14 vehicles and an industrial drill at one of the sites.
A federal judge permitted the government to move forward with construction earlier this month, but the tribe says the contractors are violating tribal codes and trespassing to access the border wall site.
The Tohono O'odham Nation, which has 37,000 members including thousands who live in Mexico, sued the federal government in June in an attempt to block construction of the border wall. The tribe argued that the wall would cause "significant devastation" on the reservation, including the destruction of mountain peaks sacred to the tribe, and would alter boundaries of their nation.
US District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., an appointee of former President George W. Bush, ruled in favor of the government, noting that the border wall would be built on a 60-foot (18-meter) wide buffer zone of federally owned land called the Roosevelt Reservation.
"Defendants have not yet articulated plans to construct outside the Roosevelt Reservation," the judge wrote in his opinion.
The Tohono O'odham Nation said that even if construction were contained to the Roosevelt Reservation, driving onto tribal land to access the area still constitutes trespassing.
"The contractors, who are on the Nation illegally, were accompanied by agents as they worked on three separate locations near the border with drill trucks to conduct soil sampling and other activities," tribal officials said in a statement.
The CBP agents were masked, armed, and set up a vehicle blockade to stop tribal police from removing the contractors, according to Tohono O'odham officials. The nation had set up "No Trespassing" signs before Tuesday.
So far, no physical confrontations between police or members of the Tohono O'odham Nation have been reported.
CBP defended the need for the wall in a statement Tuesday, saying the desert spanning the Tohono O'odham Nation is a corridor for drug smuggling.
"The project will close one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border: remote desert that has facilitated decades of drug loads, migrant deaths, and cartel activity," said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott.
Tribal officials said they're exploring further legal actions in an effort to remove contractors.
SLSCO Ltd., the Texas-based construction company building the section in Arizona, has secured over $390 million in funding from the Department of Homeland Security to build the border wall since 2023.
New facility would make reuse water available for West Side parks and golf courses - Gregory R.C. Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority is designing a facility that will make nonpotable reuse water available to irrigate green spaces such as parks.
The Bosque Water Reclamation Facility will be built on a 4.5-acre site south of Montaño and east of Mirandela NW that was purchased from the Bosque School, according to the Water Authority.
“It will reduce the demands placed on the community’s Southside Water Reclamation Plant, which currently handles all of the flows from the Water Authority’s entire service area," Water Authority spokesperson Rachel Stone said in an email.
The project cost is about $300 million. Of that, $24 million has been raised, she said.
“The Water Authority is pursuing additional funding from the state and federal government,” Stone said. “There will be no ratepayer increases to fund this project.”
The design is 60% complete. Construction is expected to begin in late 2027, pending regulatory approval and funding, she said.
The Water Authority does not expect its estimated 57,000 customers to notice any changes to their service before, during or after construction, Stone said.
Water Authority Governing Board Chairwoman Barbara Baca said in a statement the project is critical toWater 2120, “our long-term strategy for ensuring the community’s water supply for 100 years and beyond.”
“The Bosque WRF helps us take a proactive approach in managing our water resources, particularly by reducing drinking water consumption for nonpotable uses such as irrigation,” she said.
The facility will initially reclaim up to 5 million gallons per day using advanced membrane bioreactor technology. The treated water will be returned to the Rio Grande via a nature-based vegetated conveyance that will protect and enhance the bosque habitat, Stone said.
Buildings at the facility will be designed to blend into the surrounding landscape and enclose all treatment processes. Desert-friendly, low-water-use plantings will be installed around the facility and native, riparian vegetation will be used in and around the nature-based conveyance channel in the bosque.
Once the rest of the funding is secured, Stone said, the plan is to expand the facility to treat up to 10 million gallons of water per day from the West Side collection system. Additionally, a reuse system will be installed to bring water to the area that will be used to irrigate large outdoor users like parks and golf courses.
Public meeting
What: The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority will host a meeting to discuss the Bosque Water Reclamation Facility
When: 5:30-7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 1
Where: Raymond Sanchez Community Center, 9800 Fourth NW
More information: Visit www.westsidereuse.com
US Justice Department sues New Mexico, 3 other states over in-state tuition for immigrants – Shauneen Miranda, Source New Mexico
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday sued Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington over laws that allow immigrants in the country without legal status to pay in-state college tuition in the states where they live.
President Donald Trump’s administration has now sued 21 states over such laws, which enable noncitizen students who meet certain requirements access to in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, regardless of their immigration status.
The lawsuits argue that these policies allow students without legal status to pay drastically lower tuition for public education than U.S. citizens from other states. They also come as the administration aims to curb benefits that could be extended to immigrants more broadly.
“Over 30 years ago, Congress made clear that States cannot put illegal aliens before our Nation’s own citizens,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement announcing the four additional lawsuits. “By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, and Arizona are pushing citizens to the side and ignoring federal law. No more.”
Advocates for the policy of allowing in-state tuition regardless of immigration status say it does not bestow any advantages not available to the students’ peers in their home states.
Meanwhile, in five of the DOJ’s lawsuits — against Texas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Illinois — courts have already struck down the state laws. Illinois was the only one of those states that did not join with the federal government but instead defended its laws.
Lawsuits are also pending in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.
NM Higher Ed says it has not seen lawsuit yet but will 'continue to uphold our mission of supporting students'
A statement provided to Source New Mexico by a New Mexico of Higher Education spokesperson said the agency had not yet “received the official documentation regarding the lawsuit,” but was aware of the U.S. Department of Justice news release announcing it.
“As we continue to review the information, we remain focused on our long‑standing commitment to expanding higher education pathways for New Mexicans. Our colleges and universities play a vital role in strengthening the state’s workforce, building talent pipelines, and ensuring that students have access to opportunities that support both individual and statewide success.”
The state’s financial aid programs, the statement continued, are “designed to support residents pursuing higher education. Eligibility requirements vary across programs, but they are consistently grounded in residency and academic participation within the state. For example, the Lottery Scholarship is available to New Mexico residents who have recently graduated from a New Mexico high school, enroll full time at an in‑state public institution within the required timeframe, and maintain ongoing academic progress. The Opportunity Scholarship likewise supports New Mexico residents, particularly returning learners, who are enrolled in a in-state public institution at any time following high school graduation or the award of a high school equivalency credential, as well as meeting other conditions of eligibility.”
The statement concluded by saying, “We are committed to ensuring that New Mexicans have reliable, structured pathways to afford and access higher education. We will continue to uphold our mission of supporting students, strengthening our workforce, and advancing educational opportunity across the state.”
About $7.6B in New Mexico capital outlay funds remained unspent in recent months, new report says- Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
About $7.6 billion intended for more than 6,400 big-budget projects across New Mexico remained unspent at the end of last fiscal year, according to a new Legislative Finance Committee analysis.
LFC fiscal analyst Ella Hatfield and Director Charles Sallee gave lawmakers on the interim Legislative Finance Committee an update on last fiscal year’s capital outlay projects, a term that refers to major construction projects and significant one-time purchases.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in March signed off on nearly $1.3 billion in spending for such projects, which ranged from building pickleball courts to State Police facilities.
State lawmakers at Thursday’s hearing said they want to see local communities spend more of the capital outlay money the Legislature awards them.
Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup), who serves as vice chair of the interim Legislative Finance Committee, said the state has made progress to that end but acknowledged there is still more work needed.
“The problem, still, is people want money, but they don’t know how to expend it,” he said at the hearing. “Maybe there ought to be a penalty. We’ll give you the capital, but if you don’t complete your project, there should be some type of penalty.”
Sallee acknowledged that problem and pointed lawmakers to House Bill 247, passed during the most recent legislative session, which limits how many times stalled projects can get reauthorized state funding.
“As you were looking at those projects, it was like sand through an hourglass. Every time you came back, they were taking another one off their list,” he said.
The new LFC report, which focused on the final months of the fiscal year that ended in June, identified more than 950 projects statewide with a price tag of at least $1 million and assigned each a grade of “green,” “yellow” or “red.” Green projects are “on track,” meaning they are nearing completion or are in the construction or design phases, whereas red projects have reported no activity or face “significant” delays.
Nearly half of those projects earned a green rating in Thursday’s report.
The report gave just 7% of projects costing $1 million a “blue” rating, meaning they had been completed. Those included more than $10 million spent on renovations for the Albuquerque Rail Yards, $3.5 million spent on gym construction for the Taos Municipal Schools District and $1.2 million spent on Cochiti Pueblo housing renovations.
Nearly one in four of the 951 appropriations discussed in the report fell in the red category. Multimillion-dollar projects with a red grade included $45 million meant for highway projects in southern New Mexico; $29 million for statewide school bus replacements and $18 million for the Santa Fe Magistrate Court.
They also included the Santa Fe Southside Teen Center construction, for which only $40,000 has been spent out of the project’s $1.8 million budget; a Santa Fe Midtown infrastructure project, which still has nearly half of its $1 million budget; and a San Juan County splash pad project which hasn’t spent any of its $1.5 million budget.
State Sen. Linda Trujillo (D-Santa Fe) told Hatfield and Sallee that she was frustrated by how many of the slowgoing projects fell in her district.
“It is rather frustrating, especially when you work really closely with the community,” she said. “All we can do is appropriate the money. We can’t do the contracting, we can’t do the building. When that money doesn’t get spent, it looks like what we’ve done has been for naught.”
Albuquerque homeowner says Republican candidate doesn’t live at contested address - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
Republican candidate for New Mexico House of Representatives District 27 Jahnelle Garcia has repeatedly listed her address as a home on Walnut Creek Road, which sits in the middle of the district in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights. She’s listed that address in at least four campaign finance filings this year, most recently in early July.
But Daniel Olufemi, an education professor at New Mexico Highlands University’s Rio Rancho campus, told Source NM in an interview outside the home this week that he’s lived there for more than a year, which county property records confirm. He said he recently recognized Garcia’s name from campaign advertisements as the person whose mail he still receives, he said.
“The letters come in here, and I pick them up, and I just put them back in the mailbox,” Olufemi said.
Abby Foster, a lawyer and the Democrat running against Garcia, sued Garcia, who owns several healthcare-related businesses, in the Second Judicial District Court on Monday. The lawsuit argues that Garcia violated state law that requires candidates to live in the district they hope to serve if elected.
The lawsuit alleges, citing property records, that Garcia actually lives about 30 miles away in Los Lunas, along with her husband.
Garcia did not respond to multiple requests for comment this week from Source NM, including phone calls and text messages, and she has not yet responded to the lawsuit in court. Her campaign treasurer also did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.
The lawsuit urges a judge to remove Garcia from the ballot in one of the most competitive state House races in the Nov. 3 general election cycle. Of the roughly 23,000 registered voters who live within the 6.5-square-mile district, 40% are Democrats, 34% are Republicans and 27% are “other,” according to New Mexico Secretary of State data.
Democratic Party of Bernalillo County Chair Jacob Trujillo told Source NM that he ranks House District 27 as one of the top three races this year in Bernalillo County that Republicans hope to flip. Even if Garcia were to win, however, Democrats would maintain a sizable majority in a chamber where Democrats currently outnumber Republicans 46-26.
Foster and Garcia both won primary elections this June in the only state House race that featured primaries in both Democratic and Republican races. Foster narrowly bested Rep. Marian Matthews (D-Albuquerque) in the only primary legislative race in whichan incumbent lost.
Garcia also narrowly defeated her challenger, Robert “Bob” Godshall, by fewer than 100 votes in a race where 2,251 were cast.
Godshall told Source NM on Thursday morning that he was unaware of any discrepancies in his former opponent Garcia’s address when the pair faced off in the months-long primary, though he said he will keep tabs on the lawsuit as it proceeds.
Officials from the Republican Party of Bernalillo County, as well as the state House Republican caucus, did not respond to Source NM’s requests for comment this week.
New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office Deputy Secretary Sharon Pino told Source NM in an email that her office first learned of the lawsuit Wednesday and “is in the process of reviewing it” with the office that processed Garcia’s campaign filings, which is the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office. The clerk’s office did not respond to Source NM’s inquiries about whether Garcia’s initial campaign filings raised suspicion.
Foster told Source NM earlier this week that she hopes Second Judicial District Judge Joshua Andrew Allison rules quickly on removing Garcia from the ballot, given that the Nov. 2 general election is only a few months away.
“It goes to our values as New Mexicans,” she said. “We take pride in our well-run elections, and by running in a district that she doesn’t live in, she’s making a mockery of the system.”
