IJA condemns racist cartoon published by the Albuquerque Journal- Jeanette DeDios, KUNM News
IJA condemns the Albuquerque Journal’s decision to publish an editorial cartoon by John Trever that depicts racist stereotypes of New Mexico Governor-elect Deb Haaland, a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna.
The cartoon was published on Sundays, November 8th’s print edition.
The drawing references “totem poles” which is often associated with tribes from the Pacific Northwest not Pueblo tribes. Haaland is also drawn in stereotypical features of having a big nose, and big lips.
IJA said in a statement that the cartoon is turning Haaland’s Indigenous identity into a punch line and that the choices made reinforce the false idea that Indigenous peoples and cultures are interchangeable.
IJA says while political cartoonists have every right to scrutinize Haaland’s record and policy proposals. The Journal’s editors also are responsible for what they choose to publish. Readers deserve political commentary that holds public officials accountable without reducing them to racial caricatures.
IJA urges the Journal to publish an apology, explain how the cartoon was approved, provide opportunities to educate staff, and seek and use resources provided by IJA to better train their newsroom.
ICE increases arrests at New Mexico home construction sites, putting workers on edge- Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
New Mexico homebuilders are reporting a sharp increase of federal immigration raids at home construction sites across Albuquerque and Santa Fe in recent weeks, resulting in arrests and project delays across the industry during a statewide housing shortage.
Miles Dylan Conway, CEO of the New Mexico Home Builders Association, told Source NM that he’s received approximately 20 calls or texts from developers in the last week reporting that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have descended on home construction sites, often in unmarked SUVs, and have arrested multiple workers at a time.
“The level of activity I’ve had on my phone, the calls from members who are sometimes calling on behalf of their subcontractors, are telling me that the pace and intensity of the immigration enforcement is significantly escalated,” he said.
ICE officials did not respond to Source NM’s emailed request for comment Tuesday about whether the agency is stepping up its activity at home construction sites and how many people it has detained.
But Source NM’s interviews with home developers, immigration advocacy groups and homebuilder organizations suggest at least five such operations netting more than a dozen arrests have occurred at construction sites over the last month. Social media video has also shown ICE agents leading handcuffed workers away from partially built homes in Santa Fe and Albuquerque in recent weeks.
The raids have occurred at large, multi-family developments as well as at least one small project site in a low-income Albuquerque neighborhood.
On Tuesday morning, ICE agents arrived in Albuquerque’s San Jose neighborhood as workers were pouring concrete for driveways on two nearly complete, single-family Habitat for Humanity homes, Bill Bidal, CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Habitat for Humanity, told Source NM on Wednesday.
“Out of the blue, the federal authorities showed up,” Bidal, who said he arrived at the site shortly after workers fled, relayed. “We’ve heard rumors all over town for the last couple weeks about activity, but to have it hit home like this was very, very sudden.”
ICE didn’t detain any Habitat for Humanity contractors, Bidal said, and the two low-income families the homes are built for will likely be able to move in after Thanksgiving. But he said he remains “in total shock.”
Sales employees from Twilight Homes, which is developing several large subdivisions in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, told Source NM on Wednesday that ICE targeted their subcontractors in recent weeks and those of other developers at adjacent sites.
Pauline Hansen, a sales counselor for Twilight Homes in Mesa Del Sol, said ICE agents have been out “several times” in the last few weeks to hers and other companies’ sites in the subdivision south of Albuquerque. ICE detained four subcontractors doing concrete work for Twilight Homes several weeks ago, she said, and she witnessed an additional raid last week for another company during which ICE arrested an additional four workers on a different development.
“They’re going everywhere, apparently,” she said. “It’s quite disturbing.”
Federal immigration agents have increased their arrests at New Mexico home construction sites in recent weeks, including at Los Brios in Santa, a Twilight Homes development pictured above Nov. 11, 2026. (Photo by Matt Mondschein/Source NM)
Fear of ICE arrests has prompted workers not to show up to job sites, even in locations that ICE hasn’t targeted, Conway said.
“A lot of projects this week are not operating,” he said. “It’s oftentimes even folks with documentation — visas and work permits — are not coming to work because the potential for them to get swept up in one of these actions is very real.”
Johanna Gilligan, the CEO of nonprofit developer Homewise, told Source NM on Wednesday that workers on Homewise projects, particularly those contracted for stucco work, have shown up at low rates over the last month or so. She said her organization is anticipating at least weeks of delays in projects being completed.
“It has the potential to have a knock-on effect, just out of people taking an abundance of precaution,” she said about workers afraid to show up to job sites. “So we are definitely concerned about how this could be exacerbating what’s already a hard process of building homes.”
The National Association of Home Builders estimates that the industry relies on a workforce that is approximately 30% foreign-born. In a state that lacks approximately 58,000 affordable housing units, Conway said he is hoping homebuilders will prevail upon President Donald Trump’s administration to stop the crackdown.
The administration has revoked millions of immigrants’ work permits in the last two years, including in the construction industries. But Trump also said he was open to making a deal on work permits in certain industries in an interview shortly after the midterm elections last week in which Democrats reclaimed control over both chambers of Congress.
Conway said he hopes New Mexico homebuilders will speak up more in the coming days to pressure Trump to make a deal.
“When I get that many calls and texts, there just seems to be an overwhelming energy to try and find a strategy forward,” he said. “We just really need a strategy forward that’s different than what’s happening now.”
Democratic presidential hopeful Rahm Emanuel touts problem-solving prowess in New Mexico visit- Dan Boyd, Albuquerque Journal
With the 2028 election looming on the horizon, New Mexico is quickly becoming a go-to state for potential presidential candidates.
Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel spent two days in the state this week, visiting with veterans in Albuquerque, meeting with Gov.-elect Deb Haaland and touring the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon burn scar in northern New Mexico.
During a Thursday visit to the Santa Fe Indian School, Emanuel spoke with students about his background and was frank about his interest in running for president.
“I think I have something to offer,” he said in response to one student’s question about his plans.
“Right now, I’m in search of a job,” he also joked at one point during the discussion.
New Mexico has seen its national political profile increase dramatically since the Democratic National Committee voted in August to include the stateas one of six early states in the 2028 presidential election calendar.
Specifically, New Mexico is set to bat cleanup in the early state calendar, as its Feb. 15, 2028, primary contest would slot it behind South Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire. Michigan and Virginia would then follow New Mexico before other states hold their primary contests.
Already, two other potential Democratic presidential candidates — U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland —attended a matanza rally in Albuquerque last month organized by U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M.
In addition, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear attended campaign events with Haaland in Santa Fe and Española during the run-up to last week’s general election.
Emanuel, a former congressman who served as chief of staff to former President Barack Obama before being elected Chicago’s mayor in 2011, said he’s still in the learning and listening phase as he travels around the country. He has not yet formally announced whether he will run for president.
“I think I’ve proven my record over my lifetime,” he said during a brief interview after meeting with students in Santa Fe. “When I see failure, I don’t accept failure as a default option.”
He also said he feels a connection with New Mexico after spending his honeymoon in Santa Fe and taking his children to their first baseball game — an Albuquerque Isotopes game — during a subsequent trip to the state.
“New Mexico has certain milestones for us as a family,” Emanuel told the Journal.
While Emanuel, a political moderate who served as U.S. ambassador to Japan under former President Joe Biden, is not seen bysome political pundits as Democrats’ most likely 2028 presidential nominee, he could play a significant role in shaping the race if he decides to run.
Among other things, Emanuel has called for a mandatory retirement age of 75 for government officials — including presidents — andbanning federal employees from betting in prediction markets.
Meanwhile, the moving up of New Mexico’s presidential primary election still requires approval by the Legislature in next year’s 60-day session, though Haaland has expressed support for the plan.
DOGE cuts cost tribes $470M, gutting funding for climate projects- Joseph Lee, GRIST, APEvery year, Kotzebue, a small city in northwest Alaska, has a three-month window to receive all the diesel fuel it will use throughout the following year. It sits on a gravel spit that juts into Kotzebue Sound just north of the Arctic Circle, and is accessible only by air and sea. Ice keeps freight barges from reaching it for most of the year.
The community relies on diesel for 75 percent of its power, and residents put about 20 percent of their income toward buying it. That’s more than three times the average energy burden for low-income households nationwide.
“We’re pretty much at the mercy of world markets,” Chad Nordlum, who is the energy project manager for the Native Village of Kotzebue, told Grist. “Right now, with the Iran war going on, the diesel prices are very high and we’re locked in to much higher prices than we’ve had in the past. There’s really nothing the community can do about diesel prices, but what we can do is produce our own energy.”
That’s why Nordlum was so excited about a $20 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to support a wind energy project. The funding, announced in 2024, was part of a larger $150 million allocation for tribal infrastructure in Alaska. Nordlum says it would have lowered the community’s reliance on diesel to about 40 percent to 50 percent and given the tribe more control over energy and economic decisions.
But the Trump administration canceled the grant in May 2025. More than a year later, the project remains paused.
That cut was among hundreds of millions of dollars the Department of Government Efficiency pulled from Indian Country, and part of a broader pattern of funding rollbacks and underinvestment in Indigenous communities. Two new reports from the Brookings Institution show that the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act killed many of the funding streams established by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, while DOGE eliminated another $468 million, about half of which was allocated for environmental and natural resources. Another 11 percent targeted agriculture. Those projects include climate resiliency plans, renewable energy projects, and jobs programs.
According to Brookings, despite historic investments flowing into Indian Country after the pandemic, a massive underinvestment in Indigenous communities continues. Not only is that a violation of the federal government’s trust and treaty obligations to tribes, it is hindering Indigenous efforts to protect the environment and address climate change. The report authors are calling for policy changes that would ensure tribes receive funding, regardless of political winds.
Rob Maxim, who is Mashpee Wampanoag and a fellow at Brookings Metro, said climate and environmental funding is especially crucial for Indigenous communities because they are often the most severely impacted by climate change, especially after years of underinvestment.
“The actions that the Trump administration is taking are particularly significant, but it’s not totally out of trend with previous administrations,” he said. “And what we wanted to show was that actually this underinvestment is kind of the default for the U.S. rather than a blip.”
The true aberration was the unprecedented levels of funding after the pandemic. That funding, which came under the Biden administration, included over $700 million in climate, energy, and infrastructure funding for tribes. It covered projects like development of climate action plans, food systems analysis, and more. For example, the Hopi Tribe was to receive a $25 million grant to install solar panels for 600 homes. That grant, and the entire $7 billion Solar for All program, were cut.
Maxim says that funding for Indigenous communities is a federal obligation based on treaties and other agreements with tribes and should be standard and irrevocable. “The funding that was flowing to Indian Country was not being done on the basis of race or DEI, and it was absolutely not illegal,” he said. “It was aimed at the promotion of tribal sovereignty and the well-being of tribal citizens and tribal communities, and so that is, you know, an obligation that the U.S. government maintains.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The EPA provided a comment several days after this story originally published Nov. 2.
“The Trump EPA is committed to ensuring taxpayer dollars are being used appropriately and has reviewed all funding activities with that lens. Through the agency’s General Assistance Program (GAP) and other granting programs, EPA has awarded more than $351 million in Tribal grants funding since the beginning of the second Trump administration,” the agency said in an email to Grist.
Glencora Haskins, a senior research associate and applied research manager at Brookings Metro, said that the administration had targeted funding to tribes, with “tribal” being the most frequently flagged term. “I think that there was a very surface-level view of what a lot of these programs were doing, rather than any deep interrogation of the types of systemic infrastructure deficits that programs were trying to fix,” Haskins said.
In Native communities throughout Alaska, and around the country, energy and infrastructure needs are especially acute because of increasingly frequent and destructive storms, wildfires, and other climate-driven disasters.
Haskins and Maxim recommend that Congress pass legislation that bars the cancellation of grants and contracts for tribes, and stipulates that all funding for Indigenous nations and communities is in service of trust and treaty obligations even if it is from a program with a different stated purpose. They also call for a statutory requirement that money should flow directly to tribes rather than having them seek reimbursement from the U.S. Treasury.
In Kotzebue, Chad Nordlum hopes the political tide will turn enough to get the funding for the wind project moving. In the meantime, he is working on a smaller solar project that he hopes will help alleviate the community’s energy challenges.
“Our main goals are energy security and economic development for the tribe, which is ultimately being able to invest in our own community, help make the lives of people here a little more sustainable,” Nordlum said. “We want our community to continue on into the future. We have to get a handle on our energy prices and availability.”
UNM receives an estimated $55 million, its largest gift ever, from anonymous donor
– Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
For the second time this year, the University of New Mexico has received its largest donation in history. This time, it’s an estimated $55 million from the estate of an anonymous donor, which will fund a variety of initiatives across a range of disciplines.
The donation will provide scholarships, research, clinical training, student residencies and travel for the arts and sciences, nursing, medicine, dental medicine and graduate studies programs, as well as contributions for the Student Emergency Relief Fund for students with unexpected financial challenges. It will also fund endowments for the Harwood Museum of Art’s main location in Taos and its expansion to Santa Fe.
Since the contribution is from the estate of a living person, there’s no telling when the university will receive it or exactly how much it will be, but the estimated amount is $55 million, said Jeff Todd, CEO of the UNM Foundation.
“This is just a remarkable commitment to seven areas across the university,” Todd said. “I think the donors have shown great vision and insightfulness in their estate planning, and it is going to be of tremendous benefit to the state and the university.”
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
New Mexico amends radiation safety rules to match federal guidelines
– Matt Mondschein, Source New Mexico
New Mexico recently amended state radiation safety rules for medical and industrial imaging equipment, such as X-rays, to match current federal standards, the state environmental department announced Monday.
The changes, approved by the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board last week, bring the equipment used in X-ray, CT scan or other medical imaging exams that use ionizing radiation up to par with current federal requirements, according to an agency news release.
Currently, the state radiation code cites an incorrect reference regarding exposure reports and radiation levels, according to an NMED document outlining the amendments. The amendments modernize requirements for reviewing patient and staff radiation protection plans, and update credentialing requirements for 3,500 professionals who operate medical radiation equipment statewide, as well as the 1,500 current X-ray registrations and all future applicants, NMED added.
“Whether you’re getting an X-ray at your local hospital or working around radiation equipment, you should be confident that the proper safety standards are in place,” Michelle Miano, NMED environmental protection division director, said in a statement. “These updates help ensure New Mexico’s regulations reflect today’s technology and the people using it understand their responsibility to protect patients, workers, and the public.”
The amendments also clarify registration and reporting requirements for industrial operations that use X-rays to inspect materials and equipment, which NMED says will help the department’s Radiation Control Bureau process applications and maintain public health oversight.
“Radiation-related technologies and professional standards continue to evolve, and our regulations must evolve with them,” Srikanth Paladugu, the chief of NMED’s Radiation Control Bureau, said in a statement. “These amendments give regulated professionals clearer requirements and help the Bureau administer an efficient, consistent and protective regulatory program.”
RFK Jr. visits New Mexico to honor actor, former child preacher Marjoe Gortner
– Tilly Robinson, Albuquerque Journal
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. flew to New Mexico on Tuesday for a gathering in honor of Marjoe Gortner, the child evangelist turned actor who died in Santa Fe in October.
Kennedy posted a photograph to X and Instagram on Wednesday morning, showing himself at the Legal Tender Saloon & Eating House in Lamy with his arms around country singer Lyle Lovett and billionaire John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of Patrón Spirits Co. and the Paul Mitchell hair product line. They were “bidding a final farewell” to Gortner, Kennedy wrote in a caption.
Gortner, who lived in Santa Fe after his retirement in 2012, rose to fame after he was ordained at age 4. He traveled widely to deliver Pentecostal sermons to eager listeners, but he left preaching as a teenager and later accused his parents of training his act with physical abuse.
After a brief return to preaching in his 20s, Gortner became an actor. His screen debut was an Academy Award-winning documentary that aimed to expose how ministers on the evangelical revival circuit used deceptive methods to mesmerize crowds and rake in donations.
For more information on this story, visit the Albuquerque Journal website.
New Mexico Department of Transportation asks Legislature for speed cameras in highway work zones
– Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Department of Transportation’s acting secretary told state lawmakers on Tuesday that he has one big ask of them for the upcoming legislative session: authorizing speed enforcement cameras in highway construction zones.
Acting Secretary David Quintana spoke before the interim Transportation Infrastructure Revenue Subcommittee to present his department’s four legislative priorities for the lawmaking session beginning in January.
In addition to the speed cameras, he asked lawmakers to craft legislation that would increase the education needed for certain commercial licenses; rename one of the department’s bureaus to show that it’s no longer under Public Regulation Commission control; and transfer the responsibility of crafting ambulance safety standards to the state Department of Health.
“The safety of our workers at DOT…is No. 1,” he said in reference to the speed enforcement cameras. “If we do nothing else this legislative session, that’s the one thing I would love to see get passed.”
While Quintana was crafting his department’s annual budget request in July, he recalled, a motorist struck a state Department of Transportation worker on a highway near Hobbs. While no one died as a result of the crash, he said one injured person required an airlift to Texas for medical treatment. Episodes like that illustrate the need to discourage speeding and reckless driving in work zones by using enforcement cameras, he said.
One state lawmaker, Rep. Raymundo Lara (D-Chamberino), cited recent controversies over automated license plate readers from companies like Flock, and said he would want to closely review a camera and its capabilities before pursuing any legislation to that effect.
“Will they only be identifying speeders, or anybody and everybody that goes through that zone?” Lara asked Quintana, who said he’d investigate the question and follow up with Lara.
Earlier this year the Legislature adopted a law known as the Driver Safety and Privacy Act, which prohibits law enforcement agencies from using the cameras for general surveillance.
“If it’s mainly targeting speeders, then that’s awesome because it’s so important for the safety of the workers,” Lara said Tuesday. “At the same time, I’m very curious as to whether it’s going to be collecting everybody’s information, taking pictures of everybody’s license plates.”’
Trump administration to pursue public land sales and a decrease in federal ownership
– Matthew Brown, Associated Press
President Donald Trump's administration wants to sell public lands to states, tribes and local governments as part of an effort to “decrease the size of the federal estate," according to a new five-year plan presented by the Interior Department.
Agency officials said the sale of federal property would allow the government to focus resources on “nationally significant" lands. They offered no details on what lands could be sold, nor the scope or location of potential sales.
The proposal drew quick objections from some lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana, who was Interior Secretary in Trump's first term.
The plan also calls for strategic land transfers and exchanges to support greater energy production, a centerpiece of the administration's pro-fossil fuel policies. It reflects the Trump administration’s view of most public lands as assets to be used, rather than to be set aside for preservation.
The Interior Department oversees more than 750,000 square miles (1.9 million square kilometers) of land — an area greater than Texas and California combined — along with vast underground mineral reserves. That puts the agency at the center of a contentious, decades-long debate over whether the government controls too much land.
The Associated Press sent emails to Interior officials Wednesday requesting comment and further details.
Most public lands are in Western states. In some, the government controls the vast majority of land, protecting it from potential exploitation but also hindering growth. Nevada, for example, is almost 80% under federal control.
Interior officials said that under the plan a portion of any land sale proceeds would go back to the buyer for conservation purposes elsewhere.
Yet it’s uncertain if Interior Secretary Doug Burgum can achieve the administration’s goals without cooperation from Congress.
Zinke’s office said in a statement that he “remains firmly opposed to the sale or transfer of public lands." He will vote against any legislation on the issue if it happens before the lawmaker leaves Congress at the end of this term, the statement said.
The ranking member of the Senate Natural Resources Committee also pledged to fight any federal land sales or privatization efforts.
“These lands belong to the American people, not private interests looking to cash in. Public lands belong in public hands,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat.
Some Western lawmakers last year sought to sell vast tracts of land in Utah and Nevada, saying that could generate revenue and ease growth pressures in booming cities. Among the proposals, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee suggested selling more than 2 million acres (8,000 square kilometers) to states or other entities.
Those efforts failed amid bipartisan opposition.
The plan sets out a road map for the Interior Department's priorities and actions between 2026 and 2030. Future administrations would not be bound by it.
The department regulates mining, drilling, grazing, recreation and other activities that many state and local officials want greater control over. Interior includes the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The agency's strategic plan was last updated four years ago under former Democratic President Joe Biden.
Doña Ana County Commissioners issue another notice of breach to Project Jupiter developers
– Robert Frederick, KUNM News
Tuesday evening, Doña Ana County Commissioners issued a notice of breach to the developers of Project Jupiter, a hyperscale data center campus in southern New Mexico.
Commission Chair Manny Sanchez made the motion, which passed 4-0 “…for failure by the Project Jupiter Companies to report jobs data in accordance with the requirements of those agreements.”
The agreements require quarterly job reports. The latest was due October 31.
In response to questions from KUNM, a spokesperson for STACK Infrastructure - one of the companies involved in Project Jupiter - wrote that the data center complex is “already exceeding its job creation benefits.”
But the number of jobs that STACK infrastructure provided are between 20 to 34% higher than numbers reported to Doña Ana County only a month ago.
This is the second time STACK Infrastructure has missed the quarterly deadline.
It’s unclear whether the state or county will take the corrective action specified in the agreements.
