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.
President Barack Obama called for immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, in a speech in El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday. It was Obama’s first trip to the border as president.
The mayor, the police chief and a city councilman in the small New Mexico border town of Columbus were arrested on drug trafficking and firearm charges Thursday morning. The arrests were part of raids by agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman signed onto a letter with Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., announcing opposition to the budget bill passed by the House because of large cuts to border security that would cut 870 Border Patrol agents and $272 million in funds for surveillance systems along the United States’ border with Mexico.
Two reports released last week state that as part of broad immigration reform, border security and enforcement spending has to be shifted to avoid the continued ineffective use of billions of taxpayer dollars.
Of the 1,969 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border stretching from California to Texas, just 873 miles are deemed secure, according to the standards of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Within those 873, only 129 miles were classified in a new Government Accountability Office report as “controlled,” meaning there are resources in place to either turn away or apprehend people attempting to cross into the United States illegally.
The League of United Latin American Citizens is denying a claim by U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., that its members supported repealing birthright citizenship. Some Republicans have supported a law that would end giving citizenship to those born on United States soil unless the parents are citizens or permanent legal residents.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report requested by Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Max Baucus, D-Mont., shows that between $18 billion and $39 billion in U.S. currency from drug sales travels across the border to Mexico each year, according to National Drug Intelligence Center estimates. Border agents captured just $41 million in cash at land ports of entry.
United States firearms officials will likely make changes to their efforts to stop firearms from reaching Mexican drug cartels after criticism from a Justice Department report released yesterday, CNN reports. The report indicates some successes: Authorities have intercepted more…
Republican Gov.-elect Susana Martinez promised repeatedly during this year’s election to try to repeal a law allowing illegal immigrants to get New Mexico drivers licenses and to revoke thousands of already-issued documents. But interviews with state lawmakers this week make clear that undoing the law isn’t a sure thing when the New Mexico Legislature convenes in Santa Fe in January for one of the toughest sessions in recent memory.
On July 21, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources unanimously approved a bill to designate part of the Organ Mountains in southern New Mexico as wilderness. It was a routine measure — the committee passes several federal land…
In Portland, Maine, where legal immigrants make up about 15 percent of the population, the progressive groups Maine People’s Alliance and the League of Young Voters are working to encourage voters to extend voting rights to legal immigrants who have…
As Republicans push for increased border enforcement, many have sought to expand Operation Streamline, a “zero tolerance” immigration enforcement program that automatically slates all migrants caught crossing the border illegally for criminal prosecution. (Immigrant deportation is generally a civil,…
Last October, Immigration and Customs Enforcement released an unusually frank review of its immigrant detention system. The report said the system takes in too many detainees and treats them too much like prisoners, even though immigrant detention is a civil — not criminal — process. The report concluded that ICE should improve its facilities and services and create alternatives to detention for some non-criminal illegal immigrants. A year later, though, many of the promised changes have yet to appear.
Republican Diana Duran went on the offensive against Democratic Secretary of State Mary Herrera during a Wednesday night debate, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports.
Two Mexican drug cartels have made their way into southern Doña Ana County…
Both gubernatorial candidates say they want to repeal New Mexico’s law giving illegal immigrants the right to get state drivers licenses.
The difference between Republican Susana Martinez and Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish comes when the subject…
The office of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is famous for his hard line on immigration as well as his controversial tactics, misspent between $60 million and $80 million in funds, according to county officials.
Money from a voter-approved tax restricted for use on jails, for instance, was spent on salaries for deputies and put to other unintended purposes.
A U.S. Border Patrol official has told New Mexico lawmakers that the state’s border with Mexico is the most secure he’s seen in his three decades working with the agency,” the Associated Press is reporting.
But advocates for immigration rights…
This year’s annual gathering of Mexican and U.S. border state governors seemed star crossed from the start.
Scheduled for Phoenix this year, Arizona cancelled hosting the event after its toughest-in-the-nation anti-immigration law stirred protests and controversy. So New Mexico stepped…
New Mexico’s gubernatorial candidates disagree over how often to test the state’s schoolchildren, the Associated Press reports.
The Santa Fe New Mexican profiles an Arizona high school graduate who is undocumented and recently came to New Mexico to…
New Mexico should create two types of drivers’ licenses – one for American citizens and another for non-citizens, Attorney General Gary King said Wednesday. King’s Republican opponent, Matt Chandler, the district attorney in the 9th Judicial District, says the law creates a breeding ground for crime and he’d work to repeal it if elected.
