Renato Costa

From turf bans to AI rules: a look at what lawmakers have prefiled before session

8 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

With New Mexico’s 30-day legislative session set to convene on January 20, lawmakers have already begun shaping the policy agenda through a series of prefiled House bills. While prefiling does not guarantee that legislation will advance, it often signals which proposals leadership hopes to move quickly during the short session, where time constraints limit lengthy debate.

The early slate of bills touches on a wide range of issues, including landscaping mandates on state property, firearm restrictions tied to juvenile records, artificial intelligence regulation, public library oversight, lobbying disclosures, and agricultural property taxes. Together, they offer a preview of the policy direction lawmakers may pursue in the weeks ahead — and raise questions about cost, enforcement, and the expanding role of state government.

One of the more notable prefiled measures is House Bill 23, sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Cates (D-Rio Rancho). The bill would prohibit the installation of what it defines as “nonfunctional turf” on property managed by the General Services Department or the Legislative Council Service beginning in 2028. It further restricts irrigation of such turf to recycled or reclaimed water starting in 2033 and requires removed turf to be replaced with drought- or climate-resilient landscaping. “Nonfunctional turf” is defined as irrigated grass that “has no recreational purpose, is not accessible or is primarily decorative.” 

Unlike a similar proposal introduced during the 2025 session that would have applied to cities and counties statewide — and ultimately failed — the new bill is limited to state-managed property. Even so, the legislation includes a $3.5 million general fund appropriation to carry out its provisions, prompting scrutiny over whether landscaping decisions warrant new spending commitments.

Firearm policy is also part of the early agenda. House Bill 25, also sponsored by Cates, expands restrictions by treating certain juvenile delinquency dispositions involving firearms as criminal convictions for the purpose of firearm possession. The bill requires those records to be transmitted to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System for up to ten years, regardless of whether the individual was sentenced as an adult.

Supporters describe the measure as a public safety tool, while critics argue it alters long-standing distinctions between juvenile adjudications and adult convictions.

Emerging technology regulation appears in House Bill 28, sponsored by Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos). The bill enacts the “Artificial Intelligence Transparency Act,” requiring disclosure when artificial intelligence systems are used to make “consequential decisions” involving areas such as employment, housing, education, lending, health care, or legal services. It also mandates notice and appeal rights for consumers and imposes requirements on AI “companion products,” with violations classified as unfair trade practices.

The scope of the bill has raised questions about compliance costs and enforcement authority.

Cultural and governance issues surface in House Bill 26, which prohibits “book banning” at public libraries and conditions state funding on compliance. The bill restricts the removal of materials based on content or viewpoint and assigns enforcement to the state’s cultural affairs department, which would extend to even pornographic books and other inappropriate material that currently exists in public school libraries.

Other prefiled legislation includes House Bill 35, which expands lobbying disclosure requirements and mandates detailed reporting within 48 hours, with records preserved for at least ten years, which previously failed, and House Bill 37, which adjusts agricultural property tax valuation when water shortages result from man-made infrastructure failures in special water districts.

As lawmakers prepare to return to Santa Fe, these early filings offer a first look at the policy debates likely to unfold under the tight timelines of a 30-day session — and the balance the Legislature will strike between regulation, cost, and state oversight.

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NM Senate Judiciary chairman smears ICE agents as modern-day Klansmen

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During a Tuesday meeting of the Legislative Courts, Corrections, and Justice Committee, state Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), chairman of the committee, compared federal immigration enforcement to the Ku Klux Klan. Cervantes chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee during the regular session.

The Ku Klux Klan, founded after the Civil War, is notorious as a violent white supremacist organization that lynched Black Americans and their allies, terrorized communities with cross burnings, and is widely recognized as the nation’s first terrorist group. Its bloody history of racial hatred and political violence is well documented.

In stark contrast, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are federal law enforcement officers tasked with carrying out immigration laws passed by Congress and upheld by the courts. Many ICE agents now conceal their identities in public because of doxxing campaigns, harassment, and threats targeting both them and their families. Just last month, DHS reported that in San Francisco, ICE agents and their families were credibly threatened. It has not been reported that any Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have covered their faces in New Mexico, although it is probably advisable, given the hostile legislative makeup of the state, which now equates them to the KKK. 

The committee’s agenda included a presentation titled “Enforcing Immigration and Civil Liberties — State and Local Government Roles and Risks.” Speakers were primarily from organizations that advocate for illegal immigrants, including Somos Un Pueblo Unido and the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center. An attorney from the New Mexico Association of Counties also spoke about potential county liability, and State Ethics Commission Director Jeremy Farris discussed a lawsuit his agency filed against the New Mexico Department of Corrections. That suit alleges the department shared information with ICE about three individuals — one with a single DWI charge, another with three DWIs, and a third with three counts of battery on a police officer.

At one point, a representative of the pro-illegal immigrant groups claimed that children were being “taken in the night” and deported despite supposed exemptions. Left unsaid was that many of these children were sent north by parents who abandoned them to human traffickers and cartels. Countless minors endure abuse — including sexual violence — while being smuggled into the United States.

Committee Democrats also expressed outrage that Curry County’s sheriff had signed an agreement with the federal government to serve warrants. Vice Chair Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos), an attorney, declared: “I think it’s not right that we’re using state or public funds to be supporting these kinds of activities. I’m proud of how we, in the Legislature, have been responding to this assault on individuals who are in this country, many of them, most of them are not criminals. We know that to be the case—young people who are attempting… who are put on ICE airplanes in the middle of the night. Children who are returning to their countries are not criminals. And it’s a lie to try to posture in those ways. We are protecting the disenfranchised, and I’m very proud of that, and if we can find other ways to make sure that happens, I think we should be working on that.”

But the most incendiary comments came from Cervantes himself. Closing out the discussion, he said: “When children are being put on planes and people are being taken in the night and people are raiding mobile home parks and they are doing it with masks and, you know, something we haven’t seen since the KKK days, right? And so we’re in a place that we don’t want to be going.” Cervantes then vowed to fight deportations with lawsuits. Notably, Cervantes is a trial attorney himself.

By equating federal law enforcement officers upholding U.S. immigration law to one of America’s most violent hate groups, Cervantes revealed the extreme partisan lens through which New Mexico Democrats are approaching immigration policy — a position that undermines both public safety and respect for the rule of law.

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MLG plans to massively expand expensive socialist ‘free’ program

24 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Starting November 1, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham plans to make New Mexico the first state in the nation to provide no-cost child care to every family, regardless of income. That means even millionaires’ children will be entitled to “free” (taxpayer-funded) daycare — all at the expense of hardworking taxpayers.

At a press conference in Santa Fe, the governor boasted that so-called “universal child care” is the “backbone” of her plan to support families. “There are so many people across the country that say [universal child care is] impossible — not impossible,” Lujan Grisham said, adding that she believes subsidizing care for all families will “lift New Mexico out of poverty.”

But the plan comes with an enormous price tag. New Mexico’s Early Childhood Education and Care Department already spends $463 million annually on subsidies. Expanding the program statewide will require at least another $120 million every year — pushing the total tab toward $600 million in recurring spending. The governor says she will ask lawmakers during the upcoming 30-day session to cover the shortfall.

Currently, families earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level — roughly $106,600 for a family of three — already qualify for free care. The new rule removes those limits entirely, opening the program to every household, regardless of wealth. “This amounts to an average annual family savings of $12,000 per child,” the governor’s office admitted in a release, underscoring just how much taxpayers are expected to shoulder for families who could easily afford care on their own.

Critics are warning of the consequences. Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup), chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, questioned how the governor expects to sustain such massive recurring costs. “I don’t know how they’re going to explain that to people when they don’t have the money to pay for everyone’s child care,” Muñoz said.

The Legislative Finance Committee has also cautioned that expanding eligibility disproportionately benefits higher-income families, leaving fewer resources for low-income, at-risk children. House Republicans have blasted the program as “nannies for millionaires,” writing:

“New Mexico already provides free child care for families up to 400% of the federal poverty level. Now Democrats want taxpayers to subsidize childcare for the wealthy, while ignoring real emergencies like our doctor shortage, failing CYFD, and rising crime. Gov. Lujan Grisham is out of touch with what New Mexico families are actually facing.”

Despite these warnings, the governor brushed aside concerns, claiming wealthy families won’t really use the program. “They’re not going to use this system by and large, so why develop a system that works just in that way?” she said, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican report by Daniel Chacón. Yet her own administration admits the plan will add thousands of new slots — and demands more construction spending to build facilities to handle the expansion.

In total, the governor’s “universal” scheme represents a quarter-billion-dollar hike in taxpayer obligations, with no guardrails to prevent subsidizing the childcare of the rich. Meanwhile, pressing crises like New Mexico’s failing child welfare agency, doctor shortages, and rising crime continue to go unaddressed.

For Lujan Grisham, though, “universal” means everyone — even millionaires’ kids. For New Mexicans, it means a bigger bullseye on their paychecks to cover the growing cost of government handouts.

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Two NM Dems quit Fair Districts Task Force to side with leftist gerrymandering

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The ongoing redistricting fight in Texas spilled into New Mexico this week, as two Albuquerque Democrats abruptly resigned from the state’s Fair Districts Task Force. But Republicans were quick to point out the glaring irony: the very same party now decrying Texas for “rigging” its maps just finished gerrymandering New Mexico to erase conservative voices.

On Monday, State Sen. Harold Pope and State Rep. Cristina Parajón announced they were stepping down from the panel, citing GOP efforts in Texas as a reason for federal intervention.

“Fairness is not changing the rules in the middle of the game because you’re suddenly afraid you might lose, as Trump is doing in Texas,” Parajón said. She added, “And fairness is not trying to play professional baseball with wiffle ball bats.”

Pope likewise declared that “the state-by-state approach to independent redistricting will only make the playing field more uneven. To protect the free and fair elections that are the bedrock of our democracy, we need strong national legislation to end partisan gerrymandering once and for all.”

But Republicans were quick to slam the move as nothing more than political theater. Sen. Jay Block, R-Rio Rancho, who still serves on the task force, accused Democrats of breathtaking hypocrisy.

“Senator Pope actually had the audacity to claim that Texas leaders are using their power to ‘systematically disenfranchise communities of color and redraw maps that protect their own political survival,’ ” Block said. “Where was his concern when his own party — led by a white, male Speaker of the House — targeted several Republican districts in New Mexico, particularly those held by two minority women: former State Representative Jane Powdrell-Culbert (a black woman) and former Congresswoman Yvette Herrell (a Native American woman)?”

Following the 2020 census, Democrats used their control of the legislature and governorship to redraw district lines in a way that broke up conservative-leaning areas. Those changes directly contributed to Republicans losing congressional representation, leaving New Mexico with an all-Democrat delegation today.

Now, with Republicans in Texas attempting to strengthen their own position, Democrats are suddenly calling foul. The juxtaposition, Block argued, proves the party is only interested in “fairness” when it benefits them politically.

Parajón tried to spin her resignation as a principled stand, saying in a phone interview that “the rules are being changed halfway through the game, and it was going to be very hard for me to go to a meeting tomorrow, flirting around this topic of redistricting without addressing the real issue at hand, that this is a national issue that is not being addressed.”

Yet Republicans say the “real issue” is not Texas, but New Mexico Democrats’ own gerrymander. By splitting conservative communities like Hobbs and Roswell and carving up Republican districts, they ensured their political survival at the expense of voter choice.

The resignation of Pope and Parajón may grab headlines, but for many in New Mexico, it only highlights the double standard: Democrats had no problem manipulating maps when it secured them power at home, but they are now crying foul when Texas plays by the same rules.

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MLG melts down after GOP slams her crime session as ‘political rerun’

10 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

With violent crime continuing to plague New Mexico communities, far-left Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has called for a special legislative session expected in early September — and sparked a political firestorm in the process.

House Republicans blasted the governor’s attorney’s announcement last week, accusing her of using the session to rehash failed proposals and shift blame rather than deliver real solutions. In a post on X, House GOP Leader Gail Armstrong criticized the move as a “political rerun,” pointing out that the governor’s crime bills didn’t even get a vote during the 60-day regular session earlier this year nor during her failed three-hour special session last year, which ended up with nothing passed, as the Democrats decided to gavel out after passing the “feed bill” to fund the session. The GOP caucus argued that holding a costly special session to push the same rejected policies is a waste of taxpayer money.

They also raised concern over what they called the governor’s “dismantling” of enforcement tools at the state and federal level — a reference to her controversial push to close immigration detention facilities — warning that such moves only weaken law enforcement’s ability to combat drug trafficking and organized crime. Such a policy would immediately crush thousands of good-paying jobs for New Mexicans and simply result in these criminal aliens being shipped to Texas or other areas, such as Guantanamo Bay and Alligator Alcatraz.

Rather than addressing the policy criticisms directly, Lujan Grisham took to social media to scold Republicans, calling it “astounding” that any lawmaker would be reluctant to “come to the table.” She accused the GOP of political gamesmanship and insisted she was open to working across the aisle.

The House GOP quickly fired back, pointing out that Republicans have been sounding the alarm on crime for years — long before the governor’s latest pivot, which has come during the waning days of her governorship as she belts out her final swan song to save her political facade. They highlighted proposals they’ve repeatedly introduced, including reforms to juvenile justice, stricter penalties for violent repeat offenders, and bail system changes that keep dangerous criminals off the streets — measures they say the governor and her progressive allies have consistently ignored or blocked.

Adding to the pressure, Senate Republicans weighed in as well, bluntly stating that Democrats have refused “every measure to improve public safety,” despite years of rising crime rates under one-party control in Santa Fe.

The governor’s proposed special session appears to center on just two bills — both of which failed to move forward during the regular session, even with Democrat majorities in both chambers. One proposal would allow local governments to impose curfews, while the other is aimed at broadening pretrial detention for certain offenses. Notably absent are serious reforms to sentencing, repeat offender accountability, or juvenile justice — all issues Republicans have prioritized.

With growing frustration from law enforcement, communities, and even members of her own party, Lujan Grisham’s decision to revive previously rejected bills has sparked questions about whether this special session is truly about crime — or simply about optics.

New Mexicans remain desperate for action, but critics say if the governor’s approach doesn’t change, the session will end just like the last one — with no real solutions and crime still on the rise.

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‘Political theater’? Dem lawmaker shrugs as malpractice costs drive NM docs. out

28 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

In a recent opinion column published by The Albuquerque Journal, Democrat State Rep. Liz Thomson dismissed growing concerns over New Mexico’s medical malpractice system as nothing more than “political theater” and a “phantom problem.” But physicians across the state—and hard data—tell a very different story.

Thomson, an Albuquerque progressive who chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee, doubled down on her opposition to medical malpractice reform, arguing that the real causes of the physician shortage are insufficient pay, student debt, and lack of housing support.

“Now that the gutting of Medicaid makes it more important and urgent than ever that we stop debating phantom problems and focus our attention on the real challenge: ensuring every New Mexican has timely access to quality medical care,” Thomson wrote.

She added, “It doesn’t point fingers at patient advocates and it doesn’t propose solutions that harm a patient’s access to justice,” implying that efforts to reform the state’s high-risk medical malpractice climate are unjustified and unnecessary.

But doctors, hospital administrators, and business owners have warned for years that New Mexico’s out-of-control malpractice insurance costs—particularly after the 2021 amendments to the Medical Malpractice Act—are creating a dangerous climate for providers.

What the Data Shows

Since 2021, when the Legislature raised the liability cap for independent outpatient healthcare facilities from $600,000 to $750,000 (and ultimately up to $1 million by 2027), malpractice insurers have fled the state. The Doctors Company, once a major provider of malpractice insurance in New Mexico, withdrew from covering independent outpatient facilities altogether.

A 2022 report from the New Mexico Medical Society found that more than 100 doctors left the state in just one year, citing skyrocketing premiums and the threat of unlimited personal liability.

In 2023, more than two dozen clinics warned they were planning to close or stop offering high-risk procedures such as OB-GYN and emergency care due to unaffordable coverage. Many providers reported malpractice premiums doubling or tripling after the law changed.

The American Medical Association has consistently ranked New Mexico as one of the most “medico-legally hostile” states in the country, making it one of the hardest places to recruit and retain specialty physicians.

And it’s not just anecdotal. In 2024, the LFC’s own staff acknowledged in testimony that high liability exposure—especially for independent providers—was contributing to the exodus of physicians, particularly in rural areas.

The Consequences

Patients are feeling the effects. Expectant mothers in southeastern New Mexico must now travel hours to find OB-GYN care, and some small hospitals report being unable to find coverage for anesthesia or emergency surgery on certain days.

Meanwhile, Rep. Thomson continues to reject malpractice reform as mere “misinformation.” Her dismissal of these urgent warnings as a “phantom problem” may be politically convenient, but for doctors and patients alike, it’s a very real crisis.

Unless lawmakers take immediate steps to restore balance and fairness to the medical malpractice system, New Mexico risks losing even more of its already limited health care workforce.

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Keller again sides with criminal aliens over citizens with extreme exec. order

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Democrat Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller has signed a sweeping executive order that effectively cements the city’s status as a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants, barring city employees and departments from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement in most circumstances. The move is being praised by far-left organizations and progressive city councilors — and sharply criticized by mayoral challenger Darren White, who called the action “reckless” and politically motivated.

Keller’s order, released Monday, claims to “protect immigrant rights,” framing it as a response to what he describes as “harmful federal policies,” including legislation like President Trump’s H.R. 1 — also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” The order prohibits the Albuquerque Police and other departments from using city resources to assist in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, including detentions, raids, or information sharing, unless legally required.

The executive order assigns oversight to the city’s Office of Equity and Inclusion and expands protocols to limit federal ICE access to city buildings and operations. City departments will now be required to report ICE activity to the mayor’s office and take steps to shield children and working families from immigration enforcement.

“We will not use our resources to support raids, detentions, or information-sharing that we are not legally required to do,” Keller said. “We will protect due process for all people living in our City.”

However, critics argue that Keller is going far beyond due process and prioritizing politics over public safety.

Former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, who is running to unseat Keller in November’s mayoral election, wasted no time in denouncing the order.

“This is nothing more than Mayor Keller doubling down on his dangerous policy of providing sanctuary to illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes, rather than prioritizing the safety and well-being of our law-abiding residents,” White said in a statement. “He’s veering further to the radical left, using fear-based rhetoric and divisive language to score political points while placing federal law enforcement officers in danger.”

The order builds on a 2018 resolution that first branded Albuquerque an “immigrant-friendly city,” and city officials are already signaling plans to go further. Councilors Joaquin Baca, Klarissa Peña, Nichole Rogers, and Tammy Fiebelkorn all pledged to introduce legislation in August to codify and expand protections for undocumented immigrants.

City leaders and activists behind the policy point to economic contributions from immigrants, citing statistics that claim immigrants account for $12 billion annually in economic activity statewide. Keller’s office and groups like El CENTRO de Igualdad y Derechos argue that immigration enforcement “destabilizes families” and “terrorizes local communities.”

However, those who advocate for the rule of law view the policy as dangerously naïve and out of step with federal law.

White, who led Bernalillo County’s largest law enforcement agency, argued Keller is actively undermining cooperation between city law enforcement and federal immigration authorities — a move that could have fatal consequences.

“This executive order sends the wrong message,” White added. “It signals that Albuquerque is open to lawlessness and illegal activity, and it undermines the hard-working men and women who are tasked with enforcing our nation’s laws.”

The order is already drawing national attention and may become a central issue in the mayoral race, especially as Albuquerque continues to grapple with rising crime and concerns about law enforcement resources being diverted for political activism.

Keller’s executive order took effect immediately. City council legislation seeking to embed its provisions into law is expected to be introduced after the July recess.

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Triggered: MLG has full-blown meltdown over Trump’s ‘Beautiful’ budget bill

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Far-left Democrat Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham erupted in outrage Tuesday following final passage of President Donald J. Trump’s sweeping federal budget overhaul, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The legislation, which passed Congress with GOP majorities and is set to be signed by Trump on the Fourth of July, marks a dramatic reshaping of the federal budget, delivering major tax relief to working Americans and slashing bloated bureaucratic programs.

Lujan Grisham, who has built her administration on expanding state dependency programs and inflating New Mexico’s government spending, issued a scathing statement in which she declared the budget an “abomination,” claiming it was “a betrayal” and warning of supposed “threats” to New Mexicans.

“The Republican budget bill is an abomination that abandons working families and threatens the health and well-being of New Mexicans,” she claimed, despite the bill’s focus on reducing the federal tax burden and prioritizing local control. Lujan Grisham went on to accuse Republicans of “slashing funding for health care and child nutrition to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-rich,” echoing stale class warfare rhetoric.

But the governor’s fiery tirade seemed less about facts and more about partisan fury. In what some critics have called a “meltdown,” Lujan Grisham floated the idea of calling a state special session—not to address state needs, but seemingly to air her grievances with a federal bill she has no authority over.

“Make no mistake,” she fumed, “this Republican budget will hit New Mexico hard.” She then ticked off a series of apocalyptic predictions—from cuts to Medicaid and education to tax hikes on electricity—despite no such measures being confirmed in the final budget text.

The bill, which all of New Mexico’s three representatives and two senators in Congress voted against, including an expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to compensate the plight of the Downwinders in New Mexico. Despite that, the entirely Democrat delegation (due to partisan gerrymandering) voted against it. 

Lujan Grisham blamed Trump and Congressional Republicans for the legislation, blasting what she called a lack of “hearings, debate and transparency”—even though the bill went through regular order in both chambers and was widely praised for simplifying the tax code and eliminating waste. Just in its last hurdle, the bill suffered 12 grueling hours of Democrat grandstanding in a House committee and hours of bloviating from Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York on the House floor before final passage. 

The governor vowed to “fight like hell” to stop what she described as a “fiscal assault,” suggesting her administration would comb through the bill looking for ways to push back.

Political observers say her reaction underscores the growing frustration among Democrat leaders as Trump racks up legislative wins during his second term. With the economy rebounding, inflation stabilizing, and Trump’s approval surging, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is being hailed by Americans as a turning point — or a “Golden Age” of American greatness.

In contrast, Lujan Grisham’s dramatic response is being mocked by critics as political theater. “She’s triggered because Trump delivered what Democrats never could: prosperity through freedom, not handouts,” said one GOP strategist.

As Trump prepares to sign the bill on Independence Day, it’s clear who’s celebrating—and who’s seething.

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President Trump’s border crackdown scores major win in New Mexico

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In a resounding win for law and order on the southern border, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico has secured the first two criminal convictions under military trespass and defense property security statutes, underscoring the success of bold new enforcement tools spearheaded under the Trump administration’s border security vision.

The landmark convictions come just months after a National Defense Area (NDA) was established along a critical stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico, bolstering the military’s authority to deter unlawful entry into the United States. The NDA—a 60-foot-wide, 170-mile-long military-controlled zone managed by the U.S. Army—was approved in April 2025, marking a historic moment in the fight to shut down illegal crossings in some of the most vulnerable parts of the border.

These newly enforced statutes, Title 50 U.S.C. § 797 and Title 18 U.S.C. § 1382, authorize federal criminal penalties for those who violate security regulations or trespass onto military property. Now, for the first time, they have been successfully deployed to crack down on repeated illegal entries by criminal trespassers.

Andres De Los Santos-Martinez and Eduardo Herrera-Juvencio, both Mexican nationals previously deported, were arrested on June 1, 2025, in Doña Ana County after unlawfully re-entering the United States through a non-designated location within the National Defense Area. Both men had already been warned in Spanish during prior apprehensions on May 7 that they were entering a restricted military zone—yet they returned in flagrant violation of federal law. Each pleaded guilty to re-entry after deportation, willfully violating defense property security regulations, and military trespass.

“These first convictions reflect the resolve of the United States Attorney’s Office to do its part in securing our nation’s southern border,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison, who has made prosecuting border-related crimes a top priority. “I am tremendously proud of our staff in the Las Cruces Branch Office, the U.S. Border Patrol, and the U.S. military for their relentless efforts to secure our southern border. New Mexico—and the entire country—is more secure because of these efforts.”

The NDA, clearly marked with signs in both English and Spanish warning of federal prosecution for unauthorized entry, is one of the most aggressive and innovative tools yet implemented to fight criminal trespass along the border—an idea long championed by President Donald J. Trump during his administration. The success of this enforcement signals what is possible when federal, military, and border authorities work hand-in-hand.

Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar of the U.S. Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector echoed that sentiment: “Let this send the message that entering the United States illegally is a crime; and if you do so in an area marked as a National Defense Area, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and removed far from the border.”

The convictions represent a sharp departure from the lawlessness tolerated under previous administrations, and a much-needed return to accountability at the southern border. The defendants remain in federal custody awaiting sentencing and will face deportation following completion of their prison terms.

The cases were investigated by the U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector and are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Saltman and Alyson Hehr.

President Trump’s border crackdown scores major win in New Mexico Read More »

Deb Haaland’s red flag: Proudly celebrates communist holiday

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Deb Haaland, a far-left Democrat candidate for New Mexico governor and former Biden Interior Secretary, is facing new backlash after marching shoulder to shoulder with left-wing activists at a May Day rally in Albuquerque—a holiday with unmistakable roots in communism and socialism.

Haaland promoted her participation on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “Today, we march, we organize, and we rally for workers’ rights, fair pay, and safe working conditions. Grateful to join our laborers today for their May Day rally.”

The event saw teachers’ union officials and other demonstrators hoisting signs adorned with raised fists, a longtime symbol of Marxist revolution. Many carried slogans that appeared to mimic Soviet-era protest language, with red banners and socialist imagery dominating the rally.

This is no coincidence: May Day—officially known as International Workers’ Day—was embraced by communists globally as their signature holiday. While its origins lie in the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago, it was Vladimir Lenin who solidified May Day’s place in history as a celebration of communist power, using it to stage massive military parades in Moscow’s Red Square throughout the 20th century. Another genocidal dictator, the Nazis’ Adolph Hitler, also widely celebrated the holiday in Germany during his rule.

To avoid this ideological baggage, the United States has historically distanced itself from May Day, choosing instead to honor workers with Labor Day in September. As Time Magazine noted, Labor Day was deliberately designed to “avoid the associations with the radical labor movements” that May Day represented.

Haaland’s May Day display has added fresh ammunition for her critics, who say she is increasingly aligning with the far left. That concern is not just coming from Republicans—her chief rival in the Democrat primary, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, has already attacked Haaland as “too socialist for New Mexico” earlier this year, painting her as out of step even with her own party’s moderates. He, however, is just as far-left, although it is unclear if he attended the communist May Day event.

With this latest rally, observers note that Haaland appears to be digging in her heels, embracing full-blown radicalism in what is shaping up to be a bitter primary fight. Photos from the event, which show her surrounded by militant protest imagery and union bosses, may play well with progressive activists, but they are raising eyebrows among centrist Democrats and independents concerned about New Mexico’s economic and cultural direction.

Adding to the growing narrative, speakers at the rally reportedly demanded expansive new government policies, including nationalized healthcare, massive green energy subsidies, and the dismantling of private education—policy positions that echo the socialist platforms of figures like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

While Haaland’s campaign insists her focus is “workers’ rights,” her visible embrace of May Day’s radical past is likely to remain a wedge issue in the 2026 race.

With the primary battle heating up, Haaland’s May Day gambit could define her campaign, for better or worse.

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