I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Governor Bill Richardson ordered more law enforcement officers to the New Mexico-Mexico border today, following the killing of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, there have been nearly 600 murders in Juarez, including 202 in March according to Dr. Jose Z. Garcia, a professor at New Mexico State University.
“We all have a responsibility to protect our citizens, property, and communities,” said Richardson in a statement. “While we have invested money in local law enforcement along the border, we must continue to be on guard against drug-related violence on the Mexican side of the border.”
New Mexico Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall and Rep. Harry Teague, who represents the border area, called for Director of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to increase border patrol presence in the “boot heel” area of New Mexico. In a letter to Napalitano, the three Democrats asked for the Department of Homeland Security to establish a Border Patrol Forward Operating Base (FOB) in the area.
“Although the Border Patrol force strength is now at a record 20,000 agents and the apprehension rate along the southern border is at the lowest level since the 1970s, it is clear that more still needs to be done to fully secure our nation’s borders,” the three wrote in the letter yesterday. “Just this last weekend, a rancher was murdered at his ranch in Arizona just across the New Mexico state line after he encountered a person on his property.”
The Arizona Republic reported on the “firestorm” that has resulted from the murder, which included calls from former Republican U.S. Congressman, and staunch immigration opponent, Tom Tancredo for increased National Guard presence on the border. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and Senator John McCain, both Republicans, also joined in on the call.
In 2005, Richardson declared a state of emergency in border areas to provide more law enforcement funding for the border area in New Mexico. In 2006, President George W. Bush ordered national guard troops to the border to stem the flow of immigrants flowing into the United States from the U.S.-Mexico border.
At that time, Richardson was critical of using National Guardsmen to patrol the border.
“Our guardsmen are tired, they’ve been in Afghanistan and Iraq. I need our National Guard for forest fires,” New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said to ABC News in 2006.
Last year, however, Richardson asked for funding, along with the other border governors, for additional National Guard troops on the United States-Mexico border.
The murder, if it is proven to be by an illegal immigrant, would be a rarity, Omar Candelaria, a Border Patrol spokesman, told the Republic. Candelaria told the Republic that he was not aware of any U.S. citizen being murdered by an illegal immigrant in that sector for more than a decade.
