Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and key members of her Organized Crime Commission on Tuesday announced the results of an operation tackling human trafficking and organized crime in southern New Mexico.
The Governor’s Office said the “humanitarian and cartel disruption effort” dubbed “Operation Disruption” took place over 12 days last month.
During this time, New Mexico State Police rescued 91 people, identified 33 stash houses, made 16 arrests, and located nine missing people.
Stash houses are trailers or houses where weapons, drugs, immigrants or illegal items are hidden or stored.
State Police collaborated with several federal and local law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Border Patrol, Homeland Security, the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office and the Las Cruces Police Department. Lujan Grisham said jurisdictions should work together like this regularly.
“Organized crime has been a very successful operation and business, and we need the tools to keep up to make sure that we disrupt it,” she said.
Sam Bregman, Bernalillo County District Attorney, commended the operation, but said the Legislature should change the state’s human trafficking laws to put less emphasis on a victim’s testimony.
“We shouldn't have to be able to prove a case against a human trafficker because of whether or not a victim participates or not in the prosecution,” he said.
In a statement after the news conference, House Republican leaders criticized the governor for not acting sooner. Caucus Leader Rep. Rod Montoya (R-San Juan) said he and his colleagues “have been fighting an uphill battle … to draw attention to New Mexico’s rising crime numbers.” Without support from her own party, Republican lawmakers carried the governor’s public safety proposals at a recent special session, none of which were heard.
Support from the coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation.
