New Mexico governor declares state of emergency in rural county afflicted by crime
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The governor of New Mexico declared a state of emergency August 13 in response to violent crime and drug trafficking across a swath of northern New Mexico, including two Native American pueblo communities.
The emergency declaration by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham makes $750,000 available as local governments and tribal officials in Rio Arriba County call for reinforcements against violent crime as well as other crime and hardships associated with illicit drugs.
The vast county stretches from the city of Española, 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Santa Fe, to the Colorado state line and has long been afflicted by opioid use and high drug-overdose death rates, with homeless encampments emerging in recent years in more populated areas.
“The surge in criminal activity has contributed to increased homelessness, family instability and fatal drug overdoses, placing extraordinary strain on local governments and police departments that have requested immediate state assistance," said Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, in a statement.
In April, Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency in New Mexico’s largest city, Albuquerque, saying that a significant increase in crime warranted the help of the New Mexico National Guard. Earlier, in 2023, she suspended the right to carry guns at public parks and playgrounds in Albuquerque in response to a series of shootings around the state that left children dead..
There were no immediate calls for troop deployments in Rio Arriba County, though the new emergency declaration allows for authorities to call up the National Guard. Emergency funds will help local law enforcement agencies spend on overtime, equipment and coordinated police responses, said Lujan Grisham spokesperson Jodi McGinnis Porter.
The tribal governor of Santa Clara Pueblo on the edge of Española urged the state to address a growing public safety crisis stemming from the use and abuse of fentanyl and alcohol in the community at large.
“The pueblo has expended thousands of dollars trying to address this crisis ... and to protect pueblo children who are directly and negatively affected by a parent's or guardian's addiction,” said Santa Clara Gov. James Naranjo in a July letter to Lujan Grisham. “But we are not an isolated community and the causes and effects of fentanyl/alcohol abuse, increased crime, and increased homelessness extend to the wider community.”
Recent deaths in the region linked by medical investigators to fentanyl and alcohol use include Rio Arriba County Sheriff Billy Merrifield.
In 2020, President Donald Trump sent federal agents, including Homeland Security officers, to Albuquerque as part of an effort to contain violent crime.
Separately on Wednesday, the Albuquerque Police Department announced murder charges against three teenagers — including two juveniles — in the July 2 shooting death of a homeless man in Albuquerque who was chased from a bus stop in the predawn hours. A 15-year-old boy is accused of being the shooter in the killing of 45-year-old Frank Howard, police department spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said.
U.S. judge denies reques to block Oak Flat land transfer
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press
A U.S. district judge on Friday denied the latest request by a Native American tribe, environmentalists and other plaintiffs to stop the federal government from transferring land in Arizona for a massive copper mining project.
The ruling by Judge Dominic Lanza triggered an immediate appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as a deadline fast approaches for the federal government to move ahead with the transfer next week.
Lanza outlined the “stark trade-offs” at the heart of the fight over Oak Flat, an area considered sacred. He pointed to the economic and national security benefits that would come from the land transfer and the indescribable hardships that would result from the permanent destruction of the Apaches' historical place of worship.
Lanza wrote that the nation's political branches are responsible for weighing competing objectives and determining how to balance them.
“Here, Congress chose to pursue the land exchange despite the existence of many significant trade-offs and the president chose to ratify Congress’s choice by signing the law into effect,” he wrote. "As a result, the Court must accept that this choice advances the public interest and operate from that premise.”
Conservation groups that are appealing the decision acknowledged that the clock was ticking but said they were not giving up.
The San Carlos Apache Tribe, the group Apache Stronghold and other plaintiffs having been fighting in court for years to save what tribal members call Chi’chil Bildagoteel, which is dotted with ancient oak groves and traditional plants the Apaches consider essential to their religion.
The plaintiffs have taken aim at a required environmental review that was released by the U.S. Forest Service earlier this summer. They contend the federal government did not consider the potential for a dam breach, pipeline failure or if there was an emergency plan for a tailings storage area.
Before the land exchange can happen, they argued that the federal government must prepare a comprehensive review that considers “every aspect of the planned mine and all related infrastructure.”
The plaintiffs also raised concerns that an appraisal failed to account for the value of the copper deposits underlying one of the federal parcels to be exchanged.
The fight over Oak Flat dates back about 20 years, when legislation proposing the land exchange was first introduced. It failed repeatedly in Congress before being included in a must-pass national defense spending bill in 2014.
The project has support in nearby Superior and other mining towns in the area. Resolution Copper — a subsidiary of international mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP — estimates the mine will generate $1 billion a year for Arizona’s economy and create thousands of jobs.
The tribe and the advocacy group Apache Stronghold sued the U.S. government in 2021 to protect Oak Flat. The U.S. Supreme Court in May rejected an appeal by the Apache group, letting lower court rulings stand.
