New Mexico House Democrats propose buying back $200 million in medical debt
– Tilly Robinson, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico House Democrats announced a proposal in October to buy back an estimated $200 million in medical debt — using $2 million in state funds.
Under the proposal, New Mexico would collaborate with the debt-relief nonprofit Undue Medical Debt to identify eligible medical debt held by collection agencies and healthcare providers. Because debt holders often expect only a small share to be paid back, they are often willing to sell it for a fraction of what patients owe.
House Democrats estimated last month that the plan could cancel the medical debt owed by 100,000 to 160,000 New Mexicans. The $2 million appropriation would be spent over three years.
“Other states have shown that a relatively small investment can deliver meaningful relief to families,” House Appropriations and Finance Committee chair Rep. Nathan Small, D-Las Cruces, said in a statement. “A well-designed program can bring that relief to New Mexicans while also making careful use of public dollars.”
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
New Mexico immigrant groups urge Legislature to crack down on local police ‘handoffs’ to ICE agents
– Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
New Mexico immigrant advocates on Friday released emails and other evidence they say show that some local law enforcement agencies have widespread practices of referring arrestees and detainees to federal immigration agents for deportation.
In a news conference held at the state Capitol, the advocates said the practice undermines state laws aimed at prohibiting local resources from aiding President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts, and they urged lawmakers to pass legislation during the upcoming session starting in January that cracks down on the practice.
Since January 2025, according to the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, at least 242 detainees at New Mexico’s immigrant detention facilities arrived there through some form of assistance from local police or sheriffs’ deputies.
Teague González, the law center’s executive director, told lawmakers during a presentation Friday that local law enforcement agencies conduct “handoffs” of local arrestees to ICE in a variety of ways, including by taking them to parking lots where federal agents are waiting or driving them directly to local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices.
One such detainee, Brando Chavez Martinez, was riding in a car southbound on Interstate 25 with two friends on the way to a family wedding on May 22, 2026, when Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office deputies pulled over the vehicle, according to the law center. Even though Chavez Martinez had no criminal history, the deputies transferred him to ICE agents, who took him to the Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia.
Lt. John Castañeda, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, told Source NM on Friday he had no immediate additional details about the case advocates outlined, but he said the sheriff’s office does not have a policy prohibiting its deputies from coordinating with federal agents.
According to advocates, more than two dozen local policies exist statewide that ban, in some form, the use of public resources for federal civil immigration enforcement, but no uniform policy exists.
In Albuquerque, for example, police and jail officials are prohibited from coordinating with ICE, but that’s not the case in nextdoor Sandoval County, where Castañeda told Source NM the county has “no specific policy that says we’re not going to help ICE.”
The Legislature earlier this year passed House Bill 9, which prohibits counties from using their local jails for immigrant detention, but that bill is currently tied up in litigation between the U.S. Department of Justice and the state.
During the 2025 session, lawmakers approved the Nondisclosure of Personal Information Act, which prohibits all state employees from passing personal information, including immigration status, to federal immigration authorities.
The law center and other groups including Somos Un Pueblo Unido and Contigo Immigrant Justice filed public records requests in September of all 33 New Mexico counties and 13 cities and towns to share “all communications” they’ve exchanged with ICE and other federal immigration entities.
Of those 48 jurisdictions, 13 produced responsive documents; 12 said no documents exist; eight requested more time and 16 did not respond in potential violation of the Inspection of Public Records Act, according to the law center.
Documents from 10 of the counties showed “some level of communication and/or collaboration” with federal immigration enforcement agencies, according to the law center.
Eddy and Lea counties in southeast New Mexico were among them, according to documents the groups obtained via public records requests. Both counties engage in regular communication with ICE officials, including county jail staff providing them with a “nearly daily list of foreign-born individuals” who are brought to their local jails before they go before a judge and regardless of their reason for arrest, according to the law center.
Officials from both counties did not immediately respond to Source NM’s request for comment Friday.
Two state lawmakers — Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-Albuquerque) and Rep. Cristina Parajón (D-Albuquerque) — said Friday they will carry legislation into the 60-day session beginning Jan. 19 that aims to crack down on the practice of local law enforcement referrals to ICE.
Previous legislative efforts, beginning in 2005, at prohibiting local resources from being used for federal civil immigration enforcement have failed, but Parajón told Source NM on Friday that she is optimistic the Legislature in 2027 will pass the bill.
“We’re still in the drafting phase, but we are dedicated to doing it,” she said.
NMDOT launches study for proposed I-27 extension into New Mexico
– Gregory R.C. Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
The New Mexico Department of Transportation is studying the U.S. 87 corridor from the Texas state line to Raton to evaluate converting about 90 miles into a future interstate.
The Interstate 27 extension effort is part of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor, a north–south transportation and international trade corridor intended to improve connectivity between the U.S., Mexico and Canada by linking international ports of entry, agricultural regions, energy-producing regions, manufacturing centers and major interstate highways, according to NMDOT.
In 2022, Congress designated the Ports-to-Plains route between Laredo, Texas, and Raton as a future interstate corridor. Federal legislation in 2024 established the numbering framework for I-27, which currently runs between Lubbock and Amarillo, Texas.
NMDOT’s study will evaluate feasible interstate-standard alternatives while considering community access, agricultural operations, environmental resources and phased construction options.
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
Bernalillo weighs $82,000 cyberattack payment
– Todd Fuqua, Rio Rancho Observer
As the town of Bernalillo continues to grapple with the aftermath of an Oct. 10 cyberattack on the municipal online billing system, officials and staff at the town’s administrative offices are working to continue providing service to residents.
At a special meeting of the Bernalillo Town Council, members elected to authorize Mayor Jack Torres and Information Technology Director Michael Vigil to negotiate with the person or persons making the cyberattack.
“The council has authorized an $82,000 payment to the cyberattacker, but negotiations are still ongoing,” said acting town spokesperson Augusta Meyers. “Unfortunately, small towns like Bernalillo are low-hanging fruit for this type of thing because of limited resources and personnel to respond.”
Meyers said the town has essentially gone analog with its day-to-day business, as residents are paying bills for city services in person at the Bernalillo administrative offices. All online services, including billing, remain frozen.
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
New Mexico Gov.-elect Haaland names state labor secretary as chief of staff
– Source New Mexico staff
New Mexico Gov.-elect Deb Haaland on Friday morning announced that the state’s current secretary of the Department of Workforce Solutions would be her chief of staff.
The New Mexico State Senate confirmed Sarita Nair as DWS secretary in February of 2023. She worked previously as chief administrative officer for the City of Albuquerque
“I am confident that Sarita will serve as a trusted partner and tireless advocate for all New Mexicans,” Haaland said in a statement. “She is a distinguished leader with over 20 years of experience in public service and the law. Her expertise will be essential as we build a state government that is accountable to New Mexicans and is focused on cutting costs for working families.”
A news release says Nair’s responsibilities as chief of staff will include guiding the transition to Haaland’s administration, and coordinating her staffing, cabinet appointments and policy priorities.
“It is an honor to serve the people of New Mexico as the Chief of Staff for Governor-elect Haaland. I am committed to supporting her and the incoming Cabinet to lower costs, expand access to healthcare, and strengthen public safety,” Nair said.
When asked during a Friday joint news conference with Haaland if if Nair would remain as DWS secretary through the end of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s term this year, Lujan Grisham said she has “no doubt” Nair “can manage that department while assisting and leading in a transition.”
Desert icons collapse as southwestern US gets pummeled with rain and flooding
– Associated Press
There are stretches of high desert in northwestern New Mexico where Mother Nature has sculpted otherworldly forms using wind, rain and the passage of time.
Hefty planks of rock defy gravity as they balance atop spindly pedestals of clay, while some columns of sandstone take on the appearance of lace, elaborately eroded by the seasons.
Tour guide Kialo Winters shares this piece of his homeland on the edge of the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness with visitors regularly. On a recent Friday afternoon, the founder of Navajo Tours USA rounded a bend and found one of the area's most famous features had collapsed.
The Alien Throne — or Tsé Bináká Níyol as it's known in his language — was no more. His heart dropped.
“It was surreal,” he told The Associated Press. “I had to sort of just pause. A lot of things ran through my head.”
The Alien Throne and the nearby King of Wings formation collapsed within weeks of each other, toppled by the very forces of nature that created them.
Back-to-back storms destroy homes and hoodoos
The southwestern U.S. has endured major rounds of storms over recent weeks, with rain falling on ground already soaked from an especially wet fall.
Parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona have watched rivers crest and floodwaters course through usually dry washes, destroying homes, further saturating the soil and eroding the landscape.
The water is receding and cleanup is underway, but officials estimate the damage could stretch into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Winters still is concerned for relatives on the Navajo Nation, where many dirt roads became impassable or were washed away altogether by what he described as a series of massive storm fronts.
Experts have estimated that more than 20 trillion gallons (75.7 trillion liters) of rain fell across the Four Corners states and Nevada during late October and early November as tropical moisture was funneled into the region.
In early October, the demise of the King of Wings began circulating on social media. Visitors documented the large slab of rock on the ground near the mound of clay on which it once stood.
It's not entirely clear when the Alien Throne came down, as poor road conditions kept Winters from visiting for a couple weeks. He had not seen any other posts about the feature's status until he rounded that corner Oct. 30 and saw it in pieces.
Social media posts ranged from those who were thankful they were able to see the formations and immortalize them with photographs to those lamenting that they never had the chance.
Condolences also were sprinkled in with debates about physics and the fragility of natural wonders.
“Gravity. It’s not just a good idea … it’s the law,” one joked.
For Winters and other Native Americans from the region, they’re more than just rock formations. They have served as waypoints, guiding ancestors along trade routes for thousands of years, and as connecting threads in stories handed down through generations.
“They are culturally relevant to our identity and our stories,” he said, adding that their legacies will be carried on through photographs, illustrations and in the stories people share about their time spent in this stretch of desert.
He called on people to let the sites “rest.” So no climbing on what remains, and certainly don't take any pieces home.
It's far off the beaten path down a rutted, washboard dirt road. But it's worth it, said Alan Studt of Parma, Ohio, who made his first visit in 2019 and then again last April as part of a 50-day road trip.
In looking back through his earlier photographs, he could see the formations were weathering. There were new holes forming in the throne and cracks along the wing's base, making it no surprise they would not last forever.
Studt spent hours exploring and photographing the hills and washes during this last trip. He described being drawn in each time he saw a new set of spires in the distance, marveling at the petrified wood along the way and the rainbow of colors in the soils.
“It is really so magical to be out there,” he said.
New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham, Gov.-elect Haaland begin transfer of power after historic victory
– Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
Outgoing New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham met with her successor, fellow Democrat Deb Haaland, Friday morning on the fourth floor of the Roundhouse in Santa Fe to offer some parting advice.
“This job places you at the center of America’s heartbeat,” Lujan Grisham said at a Friday news conference with Haaland, outgoing Lt. Gov Howie Morales and incoming Lt. Gov. and current state Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard. “I want the governor-elect and the lieutenant governor-elect to take every opportunity to advance everything they can that makes a difference for New Mexicans; to get through the tough times, and there will be many; and to celebrate all of the things that really matter.”
Lujan Grisham said she was glad to be in a position where she was handing over control of the state’s executive branch to someone she has long known and respected. The transition marks the second one between the two as Haaland also succeeded Lujan Grisham in Congress representing the state’s 1st Congressional District after the latter was elected governor in 2018.
“This is a gift, I believe, to New Mexico — a true New Mexican who understands what we can do and accomplish,” Lujan Grisham said.
Haaland, who Tuesday became the first Native American woman to be elected governor in U.S. history, was visibly emotional as she embraced Lujan Grisham in the lobby of the governor’s office.
Even as New Mexico has continued to struggle in recent years with poor national rankings in regard to metrics such as crime, education and child welfare, Lujan Grisham oversaw significant growth in the state’s trust funds, established scholarships for tuition-free college degrees and pioneered the first-in-the-nation universal childcare program.
Once she’s sworn in in January, Haaland has pledged to sign an executive order implementing a moratorium on new large-scale data center developments while the state Legislature crafts guardrails around such projects. Earlier this week, she also said she would prioritize naming a new leader for the state’s beleaguered child welfare agency. Beyond that, she has said she’ll immediately get to work on a state budget for the 60-day legislative session that starts Jan. 19.
“The only real promise I made to New Mexicans is that I’ll work as hard as I can to ensure that we are lifting New Mexicans up across the state,” she said Friday.
Haaland added that she will “protect and expand Gov. Lujan Grisham’s legacy,” particularly as it relates to universal childcare and early childhood education.
“She has also done a phenomenal job on lifting so many New Mexicans out of poverty,” Haaland said. “I’m also excited to build upon the accomplishments of this current administration with investments in healthcare, affordable housing, affordability in general for New Mexico families across this state.”
Lujan Grisham and Haaland spoke alongside their running mates, who can often get overlooked in conversations about the state’s leadership. Both mentioned the important, behind-the-scenes role a lieutenant governor often plays.
When Lujan Grisham signed the universal childcare program into law earlier this year, for instance, she credited Morales for taking up the issue when he was a state senator and continuing to prioritize it after he joined her administration.
At Friday’s news conference, he said he told his successor to continue a practice that she and Haaland employed on the campaign trail: traveling outside of Santa Fe and Albuquerque to hear the concerns of New Mexicans everywhere.
“New Mexico is very much a rural state,” he said. “Those relationships will be so instrumental when you come into the legislative session that you’re prepared to advocate for the smallest parts of the state.”
Garcia Richard, who attended the same Silver City high school as Morales, said she planned to do so and to continue Morales’ tradition of working closely alongside the governor.
“A lieutenant governor is only as effective as their relationship with the governor,” she said.
