Rnews Crooked Bough News Round-up: Source NM

Source NM

— NM U.S. Rep. Vasquez introduces bill to prevent ‘last-minute, backdoor deals’ to sell public lands: at 6/5/26 4:00pm
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) on June 5, 2026, introduced a bill that aims to prevent Republicans from including public land transfers or sales in unrelated budget bills. (Photo courtesy U.S. Rep. Vasquez’s office) U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) introduced a bipartisan bill Friday that would prevent members of Congress from including public land selloffs in unrelated budget bills, a tactic that congressional Republicans unsuccessfully used last year to try to dispose of thousands of acres of federal land in Utah and Nevada. The Public Lands Integrity Act would require that any effort to permanently sell or transfer public land receives “full congressional consideration,” according to a statement from Vasquez’s office, including requiring 60 votes in the U.S. Senate instead of just a simple majority of 51. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE “Treating public lands as another item on a balance sheet goes against the will of the people, and Americans have made it clear that our public lands are not for sale,” Vasquez said in a statement Friday. An early provision in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a sweeping budget reconciliation bill that Congress enacted last year, would have allowed the privatization of roughly 500,000 acres of public land, including swathes earlier designated by Congress for conservation. That provision — which U.S. Reps. Celeste Maloy (R-Utah) and Mark Amodei (R-Nevada) sponsored — was ultimately stripped from the final bill before it made it to the House floor. Vasquez, a co-founder of a bipartisan Public Lands Caucus in the House, hailed the provision’s removal as “a huge victory.” But Vasquez’s bill aims to prevent Republicans from trying again to use a budget reconciliation bill — which often runs thousands of pages long and requires only a majority vote — for renewed efforts at public land selloffs. The bill would “ensure these lands are held in trust for future generations and won’t be used in the reconciliation process in last-minute, backdoor deals to sell them off,” he said. U.S. Reps Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) and Dina Titus (D-Nevada) are cosponsoring the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) is sponsoring it in the U.S. Senate. Two dozen environmental groups, including local groups like New Mexico Wild and Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project, endorsed the bill. “Our shared public lands are too important and too beloved by citizens of all political stripes to be sold off,” New Mexico Wild Conservation Director Bjorn Fredrickson said in a statement. “And I suspect that any politician seeking to do so will think twice if they must be transparent, for fear of the wrath of their voters at the ballot box.”
[Category: Gov & Politics, One Big Beautiful Bill Act, public lands, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez]
— Trail Notes: One NM election cycle ends…another begins: at 6/5/26 3:19pm
According to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office, 24.6% of the state’s 1.4 million registered voters participated in the June 2, 2026, primary election. (Collage of Source NM staff photos)And just like that, New Mexico’s primary election has come to a close, pending vote canvassing and a few recounts here and there (the State Board of Canvass is scheduled to meet on June 23 to certify the official results and order any automatic recounts). Source NM spent Tuesday morning talking with voters around the state, and Tuesday evening waiting on results and attending victory parties for the Democratic and Republican gubernatorial winners Deb Haaland and Gregg Hull. We continued checking in on the winners in other statewide and legislative races well into Wednesday. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE Contrary to Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver’s prediction, voter participation in Tuesday’s primary did not increase as a result of the state allowing independent voters to participate without changing their registrations. Of the state’s 1.4 million registered voters, 24.6% cast ballots, according to unofficial results, a slight increase from the 2024 primary turnout of 22.8%, in which there was no gubernatorial primary, and a decline from the 2022 gubernatorial primary, when participation reached 25.4%. As for those independent voters, more than 37,000 of them cast ballots on Tuesday, or just under 10% of those registered as independent or “decline to state” voters. Source NM has a pending public records request to drill down into independents’ participation. If you missed anything, catch up on our election coverage and Primary Election Voter Guide before we start down the Nov. 3 campaign trail. Speaking of which, this will be the last Trail Notes until our general election reporting starts up in earnest. We will also be producing a brand-new Voter Guide for the Nov. 3 contests, constitutional amendments and bond questions. Stay tuned! — JG Heinrich criticized for belated Haaland endorsement U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) routinely endorses Democratic candidates up and down the ballot every election cycle, including statewide offices like New Mexico attorney general and lieutenant governor, but also local races like the Las Cruces and Albuquerque school boards. But he did not endorse a candidate for governor in the primary between Deb Haaland and Sam Bregman. On Wednesday, he congratulated his chosen candidates — Maggie Toulouse Oliver for lieutenant governor, Amanda López Askin for secretary of state, Raúl Torrez for attorney general and Juan de Jesus Sanchez III for commissioner of public lands — in a social media post. The post conspicuously — to some — omitted gubernatorial winner Deb Haaland’s name from a post that concluded with, “looking forward to rolling up our sleeves and working to take our country back.” U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) shared this photo with Deb Haaland on social media June 4, 2026, as part of his endorsement. (Courtesy Heinrichs office) That omission prompted Manny Crespín, Jr., who is the Democratic National Committee’s committeeman for its Western States and Territories Caucus, to criticize Heinrich in his own social media post for being “noticeably silent” on Haaland’s victory at a moment when, “Democrats should be lifting one another up and uniting after a primary.” “This is not by accident,” Crespín wrote of Heinrich: “His silence is purposeful and intentionally undermining.” On Thursday morning, Heinrich formally endorsed Haaland for the Nov. 3 general election, and the two Democrats praised each other in statements in an accompanying news release. Heinrich spokesperson Caty Payette told Source NM in an emailed statement that the Thursday endorsement had “nothing to do” with Crespín’s or anyone else’s social media posts. She also explained why Heinrich did not endorse Haaland during the primary. “With so much of the media attention going to the governors primary race, the Senator chose to prioritize his pre-primary engagement in down ballot races, ensuring key leaders had the support they needed there,” she said. “With the primary vote now behind us, Senator Heinrich is proud to endorse Deb and eager to work alongside her to deliver for New Mexico.” On Friday, Haaland’s campaign announced that the whole slate of winning Democrats, along with Heinrich, would gather to tailgate before the New Mexico United game in Albuquerque. Democrats waste no time in blasting Cunningham as NM’s 2nd Congressional District race kicks off As primary election votes were still rolling in Tuesday evening, the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee issued a statement titled “The Case Against Cunningham,” laying out its arguments against Republican former Albuquerque police officer Greg Cunningham who is challenging U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) for the 2nd Congressional District in the Nov. 3 general election. The roughly 2,000-word memo signals the national spotlight expected on the 2nd Congressional District seat, which often ranks among the nation’s most contested races and draws millions of dollars in outside funding. The memo describes Cunningham “as another rubber stamp for an extreme agenda that’s crushing New Mexico.” Cunningham’s campaign did not immediately respond to Source NM’s request for comment Friday. Vasquez is seeking re-election to a third term in the seat. He beat Republican challenger Yvette Herrell, who held the seat from 2021 to 2023, in 2024 by more than 10,000 votes. National election experts at Cook Political Report designated the race in January as slightly favoring Vasquez. Still, Republicans are hoping to flip the seat as they seek to maintain their thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. President Donald Trump in April endorsed Cunningham in a statement, saying the U.S. Marine Corps Veteran “knows the wisdom and courage required to defend our country.” RPNM Chair Barela narrowly loses her Otero County Commission seat Republican Party of New Mexico Chairwoman Amy Barela narrowly lost her Otero County Commission position in Tuesday’s primary, falling 46 votes short of roughly 1,700 cast in her primary race against fellow Republican Jonathan Emery. NM judge rules Republican Party of New Mexico Chair Barela must leave post The narrow defeat comes days after a New Mexico district court judge ruled that Barela could no longer serve as party chairwoman, following a lawsuit fellow Republican candidates filed that cited party rules that prohibit a chairperson from also running in a contested primary. The Republican Party of New Mexico, in a petition filed last week, asked the Supreme Court to intervene to prevent Barela’s ouster. That lawsuit is pending. Barela, in a brief phone call Friday, declined to comment on what her election loss might mean for her standing in the court case. She cited “pending litigation” as the reason she wouldn’t comment. Semi-open primary advocate celebrates ‘amazing turnout’ from independent voters Sila Avcil, co-founding executive director of New Mexico Voters First, said the 37,600 “decline to state” voters who participated in the Tuesday primary marks a “historic” and “amazing” turnout in the state’s first-ever foray into opening up its primaries. Voters who opted not to register with either of the state’s major parties were empowered to vote in the primary election this year, following a 2025 state law that established semi-open primaries. The 37,600 voters comprise roughly 10% of the state’s growing independent voter base. Avcil said she expects that percentage to grow as more voters learn about the change and gain a deeper appreciation for the importance of primary elections. By the #s: New Mexico’s growing independent voter base Because so many candidates who win primaries move on to uncontested general elections, primaries “determine the actual winners” in most elections, she told Source NM on Friday. Eight of 17 New Mexico House candidates who won contested primaries this year face no general election opponent. Avcil, reflecting on the race, said she was interested to see candidates’ varying strategies to court the new independent voter bloc. Some, like Haaland, sent mailers and other advertisements to independent voters, but didn’t change messaging to speak to them directly. Others didn’t do targeted outreach to independent voters at all, she said. And then there’s New Mexico House of Representatives District 27 Democratic candidate Abby Foster, who is the lone challenger to unseat an incumbent state lawmaker this season. Avcil said Foster made a point of knocking on as many independent voters’ doors in her district as possible with a specific message about the semi-open primary. Danny Bernal, Jr., Foster’s campaign manager, told Source NM on Friday that Foster’s campaign knocked on the door of every independent voter the campaign identified as likely to vote for a Democrat, plus about half of independents in the district who weren’t as likely, based on a Democratic party database. Bernal said he is still awaiting data that might show conclusively whether independents, aka “decline to state” voters, were behind Foster’s 142-vote victory in a race with more than 4,000 ballots cast. “But I definitely do attribute a lot of what Abby did, a lot of what we did, in trying to turn out that DTS vote,” he said.
[Category: Election 2026, Abby Foster, Amy Barela, Deb Haaland, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Greg Cunningham, Manny Crespin, Republican Party of New Mexico, semi-open primaries, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich]
— US Senate blocks Trump’s SAVE America Act, thwarting restrictions on voting: at 6/5/26 2:18pm
Montanans stand in line to register to vote at the Lewis and Clark County Elections Office on Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller/Daily Montanan)The U.S. Senate rejected the SAVE America Act on Thursday, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump’s efforts to impose voting restrictions ahead of the November midterm elections. Senators voted 48-50 against advancing an amendment that would have incorporated Trump’s top legislative priority into an immigration-focused spending bill. The vote offered the clearest sign yet that despite pressure from the president, a handful of Republican senators continue to resist advancing the bill, which critics say would unleash immense chaos ahead of elections this fall. The SAVE America Act would require voters to offer documents, such as a birth certificate or passport, proving their citizenship when registering to vote. It would also mandate voters show photo ID when casting a ballot and restrict where voters can register, effectively eliminating voter registration drives. Democrats and voting rights groups have assailed the bill, saying it would disenfranchise voters and upend the midterms because the new rules would take effect immediately. Trump and the bill’s GOP supporters say it’s needed to combat noncitizen voting, an extremely rare phenomenon. Since taking office last year, Trump has made a series of attempts to shape how elections are run. An executive order that would limit voting by mail remains in effect for now as opponents challenge it in federal court, and the Department of Justice continues to seek to force states to hand over sensitive voter data, so far unsuccessfully. The Senate amendment, offered by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, also included restrictions on sports participation by transgender athletes. On social media after the vote, Graham called the SAVE America Act “one of the most consequential” pieces of legislation developed by Trump and his team. “All Democrats voted no, and they will eventually pay a price,” Graham wrote. Republicans also vote no But the proposal fell short among a small group of Republicans, too. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina joined Democrats in voting no. Collins is seeking reelection in what is one of the most competitive Senate races in the country. McConnell and Tillis have both opted against seeking reelection, while Murkowski has said the bill would set up barriers for voters in her large, rural state. Sixty votes would have been needed to advance the amendment — the same threshold to overcome a filibuster. The vote came after the Senate spent weeks debating the SAVE America Act earlier this year before moving on to other business without a vote. Trump has urged Republicans to abandon the filibuster to pass the bill, without success. “We will squash this blatant attempt at voter suppression,” Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, wrote on social media after the vote. The Senate also rejected, 50-49, a separate amendment offered by Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, that included a different version of the SAVE America Act. According to Lee, the amendment was the version of the bill passed by the House, which didn’t include provisions on transgender athletes. Collins voted in favor of the amendment after earlier opposing Graham’s amendment. California Both amendments failed hours after Trump asserted, without evidence, that Democrats were stealing “the vote” in California. The state held primary elections earlier this week, but vote counting is often slow in the state, meaning vote totals reported on election night don’t always reflect the final outcome of a race. Trump linked California’s elections to his push for the SAVE America Act, writing on social media that “I hope Republicans are watching” so they could pass the legislation. “They found a lot of mail-in ballots last night, shockingly,” Trump said at an unrelated Oval Office event on Thursday. “So we don’t want that.” With the Senate unwilling to advance the SAVE America Act, some GOP lawmakers have begun offering alternative election-related bills. Republican Reps. Julie Fedorchak of North Dakota and Laurel Lee of Florida on Thursday introduced the SAVE America Through REAL ID Act, which would create a grant program to help states provide REAL ID-compliant driver’s license and identification cards to residents for free to low-income Americans. On Tuesday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, and Graham introduced the Election Security Partnership Act, designed to encourage states to submit their voter rolls to a computer program operated by the Department of Homeland Security that can identify possible noncitizens. States can already upload voter data to the program, called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements or SAVE, but the legislation would provide $20 million in grants for states to offset any costs related to using SAVE.
[Category: DC Bureau, Gov & Politics]
— Trump administration processing freeze on asylum seekers violated law, judge rules: at 6/5/26 2:18pm
A federal judge on June 5, 2026, struck down several Trump administration policies that halted processing for asylum-seekers following a shooting in Washington, D.C. of two members of the National Guard deployed to the nation's capital. In this photo, tourists pass by members of the guard stationed outside Union Station in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 18, 2025. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Rhode Island Friday struck down several Trump administration policies that halted processing for asylum seekers following a shooting in Washington, D.C., that left one West Virginia National Guard member dead and another seriously injured. In a searing opinion, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. said the Trump administration “threw the lives of countless immigrants living in the United States into indeterminate legal limbo” when it directed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause asylum applications and green card paperwork for immigrants hailing from 39 African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries subject to the president’s travel ban. The policy was announced in November after the two National Guard members were shot. Authorities later charged Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who was granted asylum, with the shooting. He has pleaded not guilty in federal court. A status conference is set for June 10 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. McConnell, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, said the policy “violated the very immigration laws that Congress has charged it with administering.” USCIS is an agency within the Department of Homeland Security that oversees processing of legal immigration, ranging from asylum seekers to work authorization forms. “USCIS’s hold on adjudications cannot be attributed to anything that these individuals did wrong; rather, it arises solely by the happenstance of their birth,” McConnell wrote. He added that “the Court is reminded of a line often repeated in discussions around immigration policy: If people wish to immigrate to the United States, they ought to ‘follow the law’ and ‘do things the right way.’ This case serves as a perfect example of immigrants doing just that.” New policy paused processing Labor unions and immigration advocacy groups in Rhode Island sued the Trump administration over the policies. They brought the suit on behalf of their members, immigrants who had the processing of their work visas and travel documents paused after the new policy following last year’s shooting in Washington, D.C. After the November shooting, on the eve of Thanksgiving, one guard member, U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died, and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically wounded, but recovered. One of the groups that sued, Democracy Forward, praised the decision. “This ruling reaffirms a basic principle: the federal government cannot shut down lawful immigration pathways or discriminate against people based on where they come from,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a statement. “These unlawful policies caused enormous harm to families, workers, asylum seekers, and communities across the country who were left in limbo, unable to work, access protections, or move forward with their lives.”
[Category: DC Bureau, Gov & Politics, Immigration]
— Director of NM Legislative Counsel Service resigns, will depart end of June: at 6/5/26 12:45pm
Shawna Casebier, the director of New Mexico Legislative Council Service, resigned and will depart the office on June 29, 2026. (Courtesy of Shawna Casebier)Just shy of two years overseeing the State of New Mexico agency charged with drafting legislation, providing legal consultation and managing the administration of the Roundhouse, Legislative Council Service Director Shawna Casebier resigned and will depart later this month. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE Casebier was the fifth director since the office was established in 1951. She was hired in 2024 following the retirement of Raúl Burciaga, who had been the director for 14 years and worked in the office for more than two decades. Casebier has worked in the office since 2015, originally as a staff attorney. She filed her resignation with lawmakers on the Legislative Council Service committee on May 27, and her final day is June 29. Casebier told Source NM on Friday during a phone interview that she will take some time away from work before “looking for new opportunities,” but declined to elaborate further on her departure. “I will always look at my service as a special privilege,” Casebier said. “However, after much consideration, I have concluded that it is time for me to move on to other endeavors.” Democratic leadership on the committee thanked Casebier for her “diligent service” and said they will meet later this month to start the process to hire her replacement. “Shawna has been at LCS for more than 10 years, so while her tenure in the director role has been relatively brief, her contributions to the state are many and we will be sorry to see her leave,” Pro Tem Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) said in a statement. House Speaker Javier Martínez said Casebier “oversaw a critical period of transition and modernization in our Legislature,” a nod to the Legislature’s expansion for the office after approving district legislative aides for all 112 New Mexico lawmakers in 2023 legislation. The office is tasked with training for the district aides — who are responsible for correspondence, scheduling, policy research, local constituent services and the organization of nonpartisan town halls. In an additional written statement provided to Source NM Friday, Casebier said “with transitions come opportunities, and I do hope there will be an opportunity with the next director to strengthen the agency’s mission and ensure that staff are fully supported and empowered in serving legislators, protecting the institution, and upholding the legislative branch’s constitutional responsibilities.”
[Category: Gov & Politics, director, House Speaker Javier Martínez, Legislative Council Service, Senate Pro Tem Mimi Stewart]
— New Mexico state aging agency requests public input on five-year dementia care plan: at 6/5/26 11:15am
New Mexico’s Aging and Long-Term Services Department will host several input sessions throughout June 2026 on its draft five-year plan concerning the state’s response to dementia care and caregivers. (Photo illustration by Dean Mitchell via Getty Images)New Mexico’s Aging and Long-Term Services Department will host several input sessions throughout June on its draft five-year plan concerning the state’s response to dementia care and caregivers. The draft plan, New Mexico Roadmap to Address Dementia and Brain Health 2026-2031, identifies five priority areas: expanding public education and promoting early detection; increasing caregiving supports; advancing related state policies; strengthening direct services throughout the state; and bolstering dementia-capable workforce. According to the draft, the plan will be in effect from July 2026 through December 2031. The draft notes that as of 2020, 46,000 New Mexicans aged 65 and older were living with Alzheimer’s disease, which was the eighth leading cause of death in the state in 2023. “New Mexico’s population is aging rapidly, and more families across our state are navigating the realities of dementia,” ALTSD Deputy Secretary Angelina Flores-Montoya said in a statement. “This roadmap is about building a stronger New Mexico where people can access resources earlier and communities across every region of the state are better supported.” The document states that this latest plan is intended to “strengthen and expand” the aging department’s work and highlighted the implementation of the state’s Silver Alert as one major accomplishment of the previous dementia care plan. Several of the action items listed in the current draft include developing a standardized resource toolkit for health care providers and organizations following a dementia diagnosis; working with partner organizations to increase referrals for dementia screening, care navigation and caregiver support by June 2028; expanding access to relief services for caregivers by December 2027; incorporating Parkinson’s disease into dementia-related policies and guidance; increasing the number of providers equipped to treat complex dementia-related conditions by December 2031; and collaborating with the Department of Workforce Solutions and other partners to incentivize dementia-specific training and certification by December 2031. The aging department will host several virtual input sessions and a final in-person session at the Multigenerational Center in Albuquerque on June 22 for New Mexicans to provide feedback. People can also submit feedback online through June 23.
[Category: Gov & Politics, Health, Aging and Long-Term Services Department, dementia]
— U.S. House passes Albuquerque Indian School Act: at 6/5/26 8:00am
The Pueblo Dance Group performs at an Indigenous Peoples Day celebration on Oct. 13, 2025, at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, which would receive land from a former boarding school under proposed federal legislation. (Danielle Prokop/Source NM)A measure to return three tracts of land from the former Albuquerque Indian School campus to a trust for New Mexico’s 19 Pueblos passed the U.S. House this week and advanced to its first U.S. Senate Committee. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE The federal legislation, titled the Albuquerque Indian School Act, would transfer 10 acres of a former boarding school to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, which provides a museum, cultural programming and events serving the state’s 19 Pueblos. Monique Fragua (Jemez Pueblo), the president and CEO of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, said the land would be used for an entrepreneur complex, and would also include light industry and manufacturing spaces. Lead sponsor U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, who represents New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, issued a statement noting that this week’s congressional actions brought the delegation “one step closer” to making the transfer “a reality.” The bill received a hearing Wednesday in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, during which co-sponsor U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) expressed his support for the bill. The committee has not yet scheduled a vote on the bill. Albuquerque Indian School was part of a network of federally run schools that removed more than 18,000 Native American children from their families between 1819 and 1969. Children faced forced labor, assimilation, abuse and death. Zuni, Navajo and Apache children were buried in unmarked graves in Albuquerque. The Albuquerque Indian School closed in the 1980s. Members of New Mexico’s U.S. Congressional delegation said the return of land is more than just a land transfer. “It is about putting a small but important piece of land back where it belongs — with New Mexico’s 19 Pueblos,” lead sponsor U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) said in a statement. “The development of these under-utilized parcels of land will create jobs, foster entrepreneurship, and expand business services for Pueblo communities and the broader public.” In a statement, co-sponsor U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, who represents New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District, said the land transfer transforms “a painful history into a future built on cultural sovereignty, opportunity, and respect.”
[Category: Gov & Politics, Native America, 19 New Mexico Pueblos, Albuquerque Indian School, boarding schools, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, U.S. Congressional delegation]
— Republicans push $70B for immigration enforcement through US Senate, with no limits on ICE: at 6/5/26 6:07am
The U.S. Senate early June 5, 2026, passed a package of $70 billion in funding for immigration enforcement. Majority Leader John Thune, seen speaking on March 3, 2026, said GOP leaders were forced to draft the package after Democrats “walked away” from negotiations that could have placed restrictions on federal immigration agents. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate approved a nearly $70 billion package early Friday, moving Republicans one step closer to funding immigration and deportation activities for the next three years without negotiating new constraints on federal agents with Democrats. The 52-47 mostly party-line vote sends the measure to the House, where GOP lawmakers in that chamber could send it to President Donald Trump for his signature as soon as next week. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to vote no. Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet did not vote. Majority Leader John Thune said GOP leaders were forced to draft the package after Democrats “walked away” from negotiations that could have placed restrictions on federal immigration agents. “Republicans are going to continue to ensure that these agencies have the funding that they need to fulfill their national security responsibilities,” the South Dakota Republican said. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., argued the measure shows that Republicans are more focused on funding deportations than lowering the cost of living. “Apparently, Republicans think we cannot afford a single penny to help Americans cover the skyrocketing costs of gasoline, of healthcare, of housing, of food, of energy, you name it,” he said. “But somehow we can afford to give another $70 billion to Trumps rogue agencies.” Senate approval followed a marathon amendment voting session that stretched throughout Thursday and overnight as Democrats sought to challenge Republican senators on policy differences just months before the November midterm elections. No amendments were approved. Building on “big,beautiful” law The bill would provide a second hefty cash infusion to the agencies carrying out the president’s immigration crackdown, building on the $170 billion Republicans included in their “big, beautiful” law. This legislation would provide: $38.53 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement $26.02 billion for Customs and Border Protection $5 billion for the Secretary of Homeland Security. The money would be available through Sept. 30, 2029, the end of the fiscal year. Republicans decided not to include any new guardrails on federal immigration agents. The measure Republican senators approved was somewhat different from the original version released in early May, which included $1 billion for the Secret Service to make security upgrades associated with the president’s ballroom, dubbed the East Wing Modernization Project. Republicans also removed $1.46 billion that would have bolstered funding for several Justice Department programs. Additionally, GOP lawmakers bolstered ICE funding by $350 million compared to the earlier version of the bill. Republican leaders are moving the package through the complex budget reconciliation process, avoiding the need to secure Democratic votes in the Senate that would otherwise be required to end debate on the measure. GOP leaders opted to use the special legislative maneuver after they were unable to broker agreement with Democrats to place constraints on federal immigration officers. Democratic lawmakers said new guardrails, including body cameras and preventing the use of masks, were necessary after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January. The impasse led to a 76-day shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security that didn’t end until late April, when Congress approved the annual spending bill without funding for ICE or the Border Patrol. June 1 deadline missed The reconciliation process comes with several strict rules that require each section of the legislation to address federal revenue, spending, or the debt limit. Proposals also cannot be deemed “merely incidental” to the federal budget. Trump wanted Congress to approve the funding package ahead of a self-imposed June 1 deadline. But work on the measure ground to a halt after the administration announced plans to establish a $1.776 billion fund to pay people who believe they were wrongly prosecuted by the Justice Department. Floor debate on the bill resumed again this week after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified before a House subcommittee Tuesday the administration was “not moving forward with the fund, period.” Trump, however, muddied the waters a bit Wednesday when asked during an Oval Office event whether the fund was “dead or on hold.” Id have to ask my lawyers. I dont know,” he said. “Are you talking about the weaponization fund? The weaponization fund, as far as Im concerned, was a beautiful thing.”
[Category: DC Bureau, Gov & Politics, Immigration]
— Telehealth access to abortion pill is lifesaving for domestic violence survivors, some say: at 6/5/26 6:06am
Kaelah Oberdorf, 24, had a medication abortion in 2023 when she discovered she was pregnant while still recovering from the debilitating postpartum depression she had after giving birth to her daughter. Oberdorf said she was in an emotionally abusive relationship and didn't want her daughter or herself to be tied to that partner for life. (Courtesy of Kaelah Oberdorf)Carrie Frail was in the process of leaving an abusive relationship when she discovered she was pregnant. Her partner told her he could hit her in the stomach until she had a miscarriage, and it would save some money. “I firmly believe he would have killed me at some point, whether accidentally or intentionally,” Frail said. She had a medication abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2008 while serving in the U.S. Air Force. She was relieved to have the option of using medication instead of a procedure, and it let her take less time off work. It wasn’t an easy decision, she said, but she knew if she hadn’t done it, she never would have been able to get away from that partner. “I was too wrapped up mentally and emotionally in my life with him that … I needed to be able to leave without giving him a phone number or letting him know where I was,” Frail said. “I still believe that an abortion saved my life.” Carrie Frail, a U.S. Air Force veteran who lives in Missouri, had a medication abortion in 2008 that she said saved her life when she was still with a partner she said was abusive. (Courtesy of Carrie Frail) Access to telehealth prescriptions of mifepristone, one of two drugs used to terminate a pregnancy in the first trimester or to treat miscarriages, is threatened by an ongoing lawsuit in Louisiana. That state government has sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, trying to strike down the agency’s 2023 rule allowing the medication to be dispensed without an in-person visit. Researchers, advocates and survivors of domestic violence say it’s vital to keep telehealth access available for people in abusive relationships who need discreet abortion options. The Louisiana lawsuit, however, argues in part that mifepristone has been weaponized against pregnant women in abusive relationships and shouldnt be available by telehealth. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked the FDA’s 2023 rule in early May, making in-person visits required for mifepristone prescriptions for two days before the U.S. Supreme Court paused that decision on emergency appeal. The court, with the exceptions of Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, decided to keep the rule in place while the appeals case proceeds. But the rule could still be struck down again later, and the full case may end up in front of the Supreme Court. Data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey from 2023-24 showed about 34% of women and 17% of men experienced physical or sexual violence or stalking by an intimate partner. Those figures could be higher because of hesitance to report incidents of abuse. States with high rates of violence include many with near-total abortion bans, including Arkansas, Indiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia — meaning residents who are victims of reproductive coercion have less access to abortion medication. Pregnancy is a time of heightened risk in a relationship with domestic abuse, according to research, and intimate partner violence is a leading non-obstetric related cause of death among pregnant and postpartum women. Those risks are highest among Black and Indigenous people in the United States. Reproductive coercion The lawsuit over mifepristone access includes Louisiana resident Rosalie Markezich as a plaintiff, who says the availability of the drug without an in-clinic visit allowed her boyfriend to order the pills in 2023 and pressure her to take them. In her written statement in the case, Markezich said the pressure caused ongoing trauma, and that if she’d had to see a doctor beforehand, she could have told the provider she didn’t want an abortion and the pills would never have been prescribed. Anti-abortion groups, including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and Family Research Council, submitted amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court about the type of coercion Markezich said she experienced. The telehealth option prevents in-person screenings for coercion, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said, and the in-person requirement provided “a line of defense” against reproductive coercion. Family Research Council also argued that because the FDA’s initial approval of the telehealth provision did not include a thorough study of how it could be used for coercion, it should be struck down. Liz Tobin-Tyler, professor of health services, policy and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, said people in abusive relationships very commonly experience what researchers call reproductive coercion. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, that includes situations in which a partner tries to control when and how pregnancy occurs, either by intentionally causing a pregnancy or forcing someone to end it, as with Markezich. Coercion can also occur when a partner interferes with contraceptive methods, such as trying to force the use of a certain method or intentionally failing to use contraception. Tobin-Tyler said sometimes the abusive partner attends medical appointments to try to influence decisions related to birth control and other medical care discussions. “It all comes back to that aspect of control,” she said. Robin Turner, Montana director at gender equity organization Legal Voice, said what happened to Markezich was terrible, but that Louisiana could prosecute Markezich’s partner under existing laws, including harm induced by drugs. She said reinstating the in-person requirement for mifepristone would harm many other people because it would apply nationwide. “It’s not a reasonable or proportional way to address what happened to the client,” Turner said. “We have to take what happened to the plaintiff seriously — and understand that taking that (access) away is not effective.” Turner co-authored a brief for Legal Voice submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court during the emergency appeal proceedings that centered on the importance of access to mifepristone for people in relationships marked by domestic violence. “A lot of what being in these relationships is about is your world getting smaller, and we don’t want our systems to imitate the dynamics of abuse. But that’s what happens when the government takes away the access to the healthcare that they need,” Turner told Stateline. Safety planning for hotline callers Kaelah Oberdorf, 24, said she was on birth control when she discovered she was pregnant in 2023 in upstate New York. She was in an emotionally abusive relationship, struggling financially and still recovering from the postpartum depression she experienced after having her first child when she was 20, despite thinking that she couldn’t get pregnant because of a medical condition. The depression was so severe she had to be hospitalized. She decided that ending the pregnancy was the right thing to do for her mental health and the daughter she already had. “I didn’t want to be tied to him for life, I didn’t want my daughter, or any of my children, to be tied to him for life,” said Oberdorf, who now lives in Georgia. “I already had a living child who did not need to be kept in that situation, and if I’d had another one, even if I left him, I mentally would not have been able to handle it.” Research also shows that pregnant and postpartum women in rural areas experience higher rates of intimate partner violence, possibly because they’re farther from in-person medical care, which could contribute to lower rates of preventive screenings for abuse. Elizabeth Ling, associate director of legal services at nonprofit hotline If/When/How, which offers reproductive legal aid, estimated the hotline receives between five and 10 calls a week from people who talk about experiencing intimate partner violence, whether it’s physical, emotional or some form of coercion. She said callers in rural communities are some of those who need access to medication abortion by telehealth and via mail because they are often the furthest away from a clinic and can’t travel because a partner is actively watching their movements. If/When/How talks callers through their legal options and counsels them about legal risks, which Ling said is a top concern for people in abusive relationships. It’s common for them to be fearful of their partner reporting them for having an abortion, which can bring unwanted attention from police and investigations even if it doesn’t result in charges. The hotline also helps people make a safety plan for receiving abortion medication, talking through steps such as where medication will be mailed, who has access to that mailbox and how to navigate a situation with a partner tracking their movements. “Abortion pills really are a lifeline for those who call and share their experiences with us,” Ling said. Frail, who still lives in Missouri, now has a daughter and a son who are in their 20s. She has left many voicemail messages recently for Republican U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, who have advocated for the withdrawal of FDA approval for mifepristone and called for federal investigations into drug manufacturers. In her messages, she says that being able to choose when she had her children made her a better parent. “I know if I had not had an abortion, I would not have ever been able to get away from that abusive partner,” Frail said. Stateline reporter Kelcie Moseley-Morris can be reached at kmoseley@stateline.org. This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Source New Mexico, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
[Category: Abortion Policy]
— NM Health Care Authority announces $76M in federal rural healthcare funds: at 6/4/26 4:30pm
New Mexico’s Health Care Authority on June 2, 2026, announced it was preparing to distribute $76 million in federal funding for rural healthcare it received from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (Getty Images)The New Mexico Health Care Authority on Wednesday announced it would soon distribute about one-third of the federal funding it recently received through the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” to address shortfalls in rural healthcare in the state. The authority will provide $76.2 million to six “regional hub organizations” that help communities implement rural healthcare projects as part of its Health Horizons program. When fully implemented, the program aims to reduce long wait times, chronic disease risk factors and readmission rates to rural hospitals — all problems that plague roughly one-third of New Mexicans who live in rural areas. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE The funding recipients won’t provide care directly, according to the Health Care Authority, but instead will try to increase virtual consultations, especially for specialty and maternal care, as well as expand the use of rotational clinics in areas lacking healthcare access.. New Mexico and all other states applied for and received funding from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” last November as part of the federal Rural Health Transformation Fund. The state received a little more than $211 million, which is the 13th highest amount in the country. The state’s application noted that 26 of New Mexico’s 33 counties are rural, and their residents tend to have higher rates of heart disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease than their urban counterparts, while often being forced to travel between 50 and 100 miles for basic healthcare services. Eight of 27 rural New Mexico hospitals risk closing, according to a 2025 analysis the application cited, with four facing “immediate risk [of closure] absent intervention.” Four other federally qualified health centers have closed in recent years, as well. The Healthy Horizons is one of five initiatives for which the state received federal funding. Others aim to increase the number of community health programs; train more healthcare workers; reduce financial strain on hospitals; and establish a rural health data-sharing platform. Despite the new wave of federal funding totaling $50 billion over the next five years, independent estimates show the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will cut rural Medicaid spending overall by $137 billion over the next decade, including $3.54 billion in New Mexico. Elisa Wrede, the HCA’s acting rural health director, was not available for an interview with Source NM this week, according to a spokesperson, though she said in a statement Wednesday that the Health Care Authority is “investing in regional partners who can bring providers, Tribal health programs, community organizations, public health leaders, and others together to improve access to care in practical ways.” Applications for the funding, which will be distributed to each regional hub based on healthcare need and readiness, are due by July 2, according to the authority. Recipients must use at least 90% of the funding to support local healthcare projects.
[Category: Health, New Mexico Health Care Authority, One Big Beautiful Bill Act, rural health transformation fund]
— New Mexico AG Torrez sues Kalshi for allowing allegedly illegal sports betting: at 6/4/26 3:58pm
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez on June 4, 2026, announced a lawsuit against online betting platform Kalshi for allegedly violating New Mexico gambling laws. (Patrick Lohmann/Source NM)New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez on Thursday announced he was suing online betting platform Kalshi for allegedly evading state gaming laws by allowing sports gambling. The lawsuit filed in New Mexico’s First Judicial District Court alleges the Delaware-based company’s operation in New Mexico creates a “public nuisance” by contributing to compulsive and addictive betting in a state that already has nearly four times the national rate of problem gambling. The company is also upending “carefully negotiated” statewide gaming compacts or other gambling allowed through strict state regulation, the suit contends. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE “Kalshi has ignored that framework entirely while offering online sports betting within the state,” Torrez said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “We are filing this lawsuit to protect the integrity of our laws, our regulatory system, and most importantly, consumers.” In May, three New Mexico pueblos and one tribe sued Kalshi in federal court, arguing that the company allows sports gambling on tribal land, which undermines the Indigenous governments’ rights to raise revenue for schools and other institutions. That lawsuit is still pending, but followed a favorable ruling for a Wisconsin tribe in a similar lawsuit against Kalshi. Mescalero Apache Tribe Vice President Duane Duffy, who represents one of the plaintiffs in the New Mexico suit, did not immediately respond to Source NM’s request for comment on how the AG’s suit might complement their legal action. Torrez’s lawsuit Thursday alleges all sports gambling that the app enables across the state constitutes a violation of a 1953 law that has broadly criminalized all forms of gambling except those regulated through the state’s Gaming Control Act. We respect and support the separate action filed by tribal governments in May to protect their sovereign interests,” New Mexico Department of Justice Chief of Staff Lauren Rodriguez told Source NM in an emailed statement. “And we view these efforts as separate but complementary tracks that together defend both the States interests and the integrity of tribal gaming in New Mexico. Torrez’s lawsuit contains screenshots of what it alleges constitutes sports gambling on the app, including allowing New Mexico users to place bets on the number of points scored by the winner in the May 30 NBA conference final game between San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder. According to a 2025 study cited in the lawsuit, 3.9% of New Mexico adults the study surveyed screened positive for problem gambling. The national average is 1%, according to the study. Kalshi officials did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Source NM on Thursday.
[Category: Economy, Native America, Kalshi, new mexico attorney general raúl torrez, online sports gambling, tribal gaming]
— Trump to pump $700M into coal power in the states, as he again blasts renewable energy: at 6/4/26 3:34pm
President Donald Trump speaks during a "Beautiful, Clean Coal" event in the Oval Office of the White House on June 4, 2026 in Washington, D.C. Behind him, left to right, are Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)The federal government will spend $700 million on building or refurbishing coal power infrastructure across the country in a boost to “clean, beautiful coal,” President Donald Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office. Trump said he was invoking the Cold War-era Defense Production Act, which gives the president authority over domestic industry, to save 13 existing power plants and build two new ones. He said the move would save 14,000 coal jobs and lower energy costs, though the spending will not lower the price of gasoline or diesel fuel, which has spiked since Trump launched a war with Iran in February. Trump criticized subsidies for wind power championed by Democrats, including his predecessor, Joe Biden, characterizing coal as the most important energy source to cultivate. “It’s real power,” Trump said. “In terms of power, theres really nothing like it. We have so many different alternatives. You talk about some, theres no real alternative.” New coal plants would be built in Alaska and West Virginia, Trump said. A defunct plant in Maryland would also be restarted. Those projects would be funded with $200 million in Department of Energy grants. Coal plants receiving a combined $425 million in Defense Production Act funding are in West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Arizona, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Wisconsin, according to the White House. Coal mines benefiting from the move are in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wyoming, North Dakota and New Mexico, according to the White House. The administration would also spend $75 million, authorized by the Defense Production Act, to help open a long-delayed new coal export terminal in Oakland, California, the White House said. Administration officials said Thursday’s announcement built on a record of the past 18 months in which the administration has saved dozens of coal production facilities. “It is hard to overstate the magnitude of this,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. “If you look at our efforts across the whole government, so far 45 coal plants are open today that would not be open.” Republican approval Trump Cabinet members, congressional Republicans and two governors, Wyoming’s Mark Gordon and West Virginia’s Patrick Morrissey, joined Trump for the Oval Office announcement, with several extolling the importance of the coal industry after Trump spoke. Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin praised Trump for intervening to help the industry and refocusing federal energy policy away from renewables. Wright said Democratic policies were more responsible for high energy costs than the war in Iran, even though Republicans have held unified control of the federal government since January 2025 and the Trump administration has consistently touted its moves to encourage fossil fuel production. “We wish they were lower, but gasoline prices in the U.S. are a little over $4. Theyre $10 in Europe, theyre higher in Asia, theyre very high in California,” Wright said. The national average price for regular gasoline Thursday was $4.24 per gallon. “The bigger threat to energy prices in the United States is Democratic green energy policies,” Wright continued. “They have driven up energy prices far more than a conflict in Iran.” Burgum said the president was perhaps the strongest advocate for coal in the country’s history. He echoed Trump’s statements that the coal industry needed to be reinvigorated after the Biden administration focused more on renewable energy production. “The prior administration, under Biden, had gone so far down the path of pursuing the highly subsidized, intermittent, weather-dependent sources of electricity that our grid was at risk. You understood that and you understood how key coal is,” Burgum told Trump. “Its the backbone of having affordable, reliable and secure American energy to power our country, our electric grid, power our competitiveness in AI, and power all the manufacturing thats coming back.” Morrissey said the moves would benefit his state. “We believe your policies are going to allow America to compete and win,” Morrissey said. “West Virginia is going to supply the coal, the gas, the nuclear to help make that happen. So Im very excited by everything youre doing.” Greens decry ‘polluter handout’ Environmental groups blasted the move, saying it propped up a failing industry and would have little long-term impact on energy prices or reliability. Jesse Lee, a senior adviser with the advocacy group Climate Power, said the spending on coal projects would not lower utility prices, which he said have climbed 18% during Trump’s second term. “He’s gaslighting the American people by claiming that this move will lower electricity prices in the middle of an energy affordability crisis that he created,” Lee said. Environmental groups noted the coal industry heavily contributed to Trump’s 2024 campaign. Several environmental advocates, including Lena Moffitt, the executive director of the climate group Evergreen Action, suggested that relationship drove Trump to promote coal at the expense of renewable energy sources. “Spending $700 million to bail out the coal industry is like throwing a lifeline to a ship that has already sunk,” Moffitt wrote. “Trump is handing out taxpayer money to coal barons and leaving us with nothing but higher energy costs. … There’s no coal revival waiting around the corner—just polluters collecting a handout while their friends run the White House and Americans foot the bill.”
[Category: DC Bureau, Gov & Politics]
— US Senate launches marathon session to pass nearly $70B for ICE, Border Patrol: at 6/4/26 2:55pm
The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., amid fog on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans fended off an attempt Thursday to block the Department of Justice from using an “anti-weaponization” fund to pay people who feel they were wrongly prosecuted, as well as another proposal that sought to require congressional authorization for a new White House ballroom. Debate on amendments and motions, by Democrats and Republicans, is a required part of the special process GOP leaders are using to approve nearly $70 billion for immigration enforcement and deportation activities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol, through the end of President Donald Trump’s term. Votes were expected to last into the evening and possibly overnight as Democrats look to challenge their Republican counterparts on policy while also making their case for control of Congress ahead of this year’s November midterm elections. Senators voted 49-50 to reject an amendment from Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., that would have prevented the Department of Justice from carrying out the “anti-weaponization” proposal by Trump to use $1.776 billion to pay people who feel they were wrongly prosecuted. Several Republicans facing tough reelection campaigns joined Democrats in voting for the amendment, including Alaska’s Dan Sullivan, Maine’s Susan Collins and Ohio’s Jon Husted. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified earlier this week the administration had scrapped plans for the “anti-weaponization” fund, following intense criticism from both Republicans and Democrats, but Trump later said he wasn’t sure and would have to check with his attorneys. Trump wont give Americans a penny to help offset the skyrocketing costs he brought on our country,” Schumer said. “But hes more than happy to charge them nearly $2 billion to line the pockets of his families, his billionaire friends, and the criminals who mauled police officers on January 6. If Republicans truly oppose this corruption, then prove it.” North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis then offered an amendment of his own that would have transferred the funding the administration had proposed for its so-called “anti-weaponization” fund to the Justice Department’s fraud division. “We heard over the last 48 hours that the acting attorney general said that this funds not moving forward,” Tillis said. “All this amendment does is codify what I believe the policy of the DOJ is. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham raised a procedural objection to Tillis’ amendment, arguing it didn’t comply with the strict rules of the process. Tillis tried to waive that maneuver, but a 15-84 vote didn’t achieve those goals and the amendment failed. White House ballroom construction Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley offered an amendment that would have required congressional authorization to proceed with Trump’s White House ballroom renovations. “All of us here have a responsibility to follow the power of the purse responsibility in the Constitution. Lets all support the idea that it must proceed, if its to proceed, with a congressional authorization,” the Democrat said. Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul called the amendment a poison pill” and raised a procedural issue on the grounds that Merkley’s measure is not under the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee. “There is no money in this bill for a ballroom,” Paul said. Merkley tried to waive the procedural objection, but it failed in a 53-46 vote, which required at least 60 to agree in order to move forward.
[Category: DC Bureau, Gov & Politics, Immigration]
— Federal appeals court dismisses NM Cattle Growers’ lawsuit over sniping feral cattle in the Gila: at 6/4/26 1:29pm
A photo of feral cows on the Gila River taken prior to the U.S. Forest Service’s aerial shooting operations. (Courtesy Todd Schulke of the Center for Biological Diversity)A federal appeals court this week dismissed a 2023 legal challenge by the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association over the U.S. Forest Service practice of aerial shooting feral cattle in the Gila wilderness. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE The June 3 U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit ruling notes that the cows are mostly eradicated from the Gila National Forest — and the federal government has directed staff to try and capture any stragglers rather than shoot them — making the yearslong legal fight moot. “There is no reasonable expectation the Forest Service will resume aerial shooting of the Gila cattle,” the order stated. As part of the dismissal, the court overturned a lower federal district court’s order that upheld the government’s authority to remove the cattle by shooting them from a helicopter because it said the feral cows no longer qualified as domestic livestock. The problem of feral cattle — or previously domestic herds that have returned to a wild state — has been a longstanding concern in the Gila, prompting outcry over animal welfare, endangered species and land use. Over the years, 756 cattle were removed (dead or alive) from the Gila Wilderness, the Forest Service said in a 2022 news release. Of those cattle, only one cow captured in 1998 had branding indicating it had been part of a domestic herd. Between 2022 and 2023, a special team of federal officials sniped a total of 84 cattle from a helicopter on public lands, over legal objections from the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association. Only an estimated 10-20 cattle remain, according to 2024 court documents. Parties on opposite sides of the case — the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association and the Center for Biological Diversity, which argued that the culling of the cows protects fragile wildlife and endangered species — both declared victory from the dismissal. New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association President Tom Paterson told Source NM the dismissal of the lower court’s order is a win, and cited the lawsuit’s pressure on federal officials to halt the practice. “I think that the overarching point is that the likelihood of the Forest Service ever engaging in aerial removal, not just the Gila, but across the West, is pretty minimal,” Paterson said. “Leastways, I hope so.” Todd Schulke, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement that the U.S. Forest Service was right to remove the feral cattle and argued that federal officials maintain the authority to do so in the future. “The livestock industry’s sham lawsuit was a waste of time and money. With cows gone, these wild streamside habitats are finally recovering, which is wonderful news for endangered species,” Schulke said.
[Category: Environment & Climate Change, Gov & Politics, cattle, endangered species, feral cows, Gila wilderness, New Mexico Cattle Grower's Association, U.S. Forest Service]
— Trump picks acting AG Blanche to stay on full time: at 6/4/26 1:08pm
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the department on a permanent basis, walks by reporters at the U.S. Capitol on May 21, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will nominate acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, his former personal lawyer, to fill the top role at the Department of Justice on a permanent basis, he said Wednesday night. Trump revealed Blanche as his choice at an outdoor event at the White House, saying “we are going to make him permanent attorney general” and adding that he expects Blanche’s nomination process to “go very quickly.” Blanche has been leading the department in an acting capacity since former Attorney General Pam Bondi exited the administration in early April. Blanche, of Florida, will almost certainly have that state’s two Republican senators, Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, supporting his nomination. The GOP-led Senate confirmed Blanche as deputy attorney general in early March 2025 on a party-line vote. Blanche represented Trump in 2023 and 2024 during a New York state hush money case. A jury convicted Trump two years ago on 34 first-degree felony counts of falsifying business records. The close tie between the president and his pick for attorney general is a major reason Democrats will oppose the nomination, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Thursday. “Trump picked Blanche because he’s loyal to the president alone – not the Constitution, not the rule of law, and certainly not the American people, and not to the values that this country has had for 250 years,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “For years, Blanche has been Trump’s personal lawyer and attack dog, and that didn’t stop when Blanche joined the department.” Anti-weaponization fund Blanche has taken heat in recent weeks, including from Republicans, for the department’s settlement in Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against his own IRS. Trump dropped the suit in exchange for the department establishing a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund for persons Blanche described on May 18 as “victims of lawfare.” The settlement revealed that the fund would be governed by five commissioners hand-chosen by Blanche, with only one involving consultation from congressional leadership. Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle quickly objected to the proposal, noting the possibility that people convicted — then pardoned by Trump — of assaulting police during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol could receive reparations from the fund. When pressed at a May 27 Senate hearing on whether violent Jan. 6 defendants who were pardoned could reap taxpayer dollars from the fund, Blanche replied, “Anybody can apply. “The commission will set rules, Im sure,” he continued. “Thats not for me to set, thats for the commissioners, and whether an individual, an Oath Keeper, as you just mentioned, applies for compensation, anybody in this country can apply.” Several lawsuits quickly challenged the legality of the fund, including one from former police officers who deployed to the Capitol on Jan.6, and another from legal advocates who argued the fund would be illegally shielded from transparency laws. After intense pressure, Blanche testified to a House Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday that the administration was “not moving forward with the fund, period.” The concession cleared the way for reluctant Senate Republicans to support a roughly $70 billion immigration enforcement package. Senate Democrats plan to stall the bill on the floor Thursday with a marathon of amendments, including proposals to curtail or outright ban such funds going forward. The administration is still facing questions from lawmakers about a provision in Trump’s IRS settlement that absolves him, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization, from tax audits. Epstein files Blanche has also come under scrutiny for the DOJ’s handling of the release of files related to the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The botched release last year, when Bondi headed the department, initially exposed names of sexual abuse victims. Democrats claimed Bondi told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during a closed-door interview last week that Blanche oversaw the legally mandated release of the files and made the decision to not investigate any possible leads. Bondi refuted the claim on social media following the interview.
[Category: DC Bureau, Gov & Politics]
— Inspection shows sanitation, use-of-force transparency lacking at La. ICE detention center: at 6/4/26 1:08pm
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer's badge and weapon are seen as ICE conducts a vehicle checkpoint in Washington, D.C. in August, 2025. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)WASHINGTON — A Louisiana detention center that houses roughly 1,500 immigrants failed to ensure sanitary conditions, properly store perishable food, properly notify use-of-force incidents and maintain medical records of detainees, according to a report published Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog. The findings stem from an unannounced visit from federal inspectors in March 2025 to the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana. The report from the DHS Office of Inspector General comes on the heels of multiple hunger strikes from immigrants at detention centers, protests outside facilities, a rise in deaths in detention and calls from Democratic lawmakers to shut down certain sites due to poor and inhumane conditions. In a statement, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson characterized the report as showing only “minor infractions” at the facility, but did not address the reports of improper use of force. “These minor infractions included failing to provide detainees exercise equipment, record keeping errors, and leaking vents,” the DHS spokesperson said. “Another infraction included providing a shared computer for legal research that would allow other detainees to see other detainees’ case information.” The spokesperson said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is working to address the issues laid out in the report, including “by adding additional training to facility staff.” Use-of-force reporting Facility staff did not properly notify the ICE field office of several use-of-force incidents, and videos of the incidents that inspectors tried to review were incomplete, according to the report. The incidents the OIG reviewed included “applying a choke hold around a detainee’s neck,” and “puncturing a detainee’s skin with a pen to gain compliance.” In the first video reviewed by inspectors, an officer applied a chokehold to stop an altercation between detainees. OIG investigators noted that the facility agreed “that the officer should receive remedial training.” In a second video, “an officer could not close and secure a housing unit because a detainee would not remove his hand from the unit’s door. After verbally ordering the detainee to remove his hand, the officer then stabbed the detainee’s right thumb with a pen, puncturing the skin.” OIG detailed that the “facility investigated the incident and determined that the officer required disciplinary action.” But because the facility does not have a process to document when staff received extra training or disciplinary actions, inspectors argued they could not tell if staff who used prohibited practices or did not follow standards during use-of-force incidents received the appropriate follow-up training or disciplinary actions. “This could lead to staff repeating inappropriate use-of-force tactics that could potentially result in property damage, injury, and death,” according to the report. Sanitation and recreation The report recommended that detainees be provided some recreational activities or equipment and noted that ICE complied, adding soccer balls, beanbag toss and pull-up bars. The OIG report also found three leaking vents in the kitchen area, and raised concerns about sanitation. “Because Winn did not conduct maintenance sufficient to prevent the leaks or repair or remove these leaking items, the facility risks food-safety hazards, such as residue leaking onto food preparation materials or into prepared food,” according to the report. Inspectors also found the refrigerators and freezers that stored the food were not at proper temperatures. “Storing perishable food at temperatures above the required ranges could cause food spoilage or rotting and potentially place staff and detainees at risk of food borne illnesses if served and consumed,” according to the report. OIG made recommendations to ICE to fix the leaks and food temperature, and the agency agreed. OIG could not determine if ICE fixed the leaks, but did find ICE resolved the issue of food being stored at the proper temperature.
[Category: DC Bureau, Gov & Politics]
— NM revenue increases $850M due to Iran war, state economist estimates: at 6/4/26 11:01am
The surging price of oil following the Iran war means New Mexico trust funds will see a windfall of approximately $850 million, according to New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee Chief Economist Ismael Torres. (Danielle Prokop/Source NM)The ongoing war in Iran means $850 million more will flow into state coffers by the end of the current fiscal year ending June 30, according to new projections from the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee. The projected windfall results from a sharp increase in the price-per-barrel of oil since President Donald Trump began an armed conflict with Iran in February, LFC Chief Economist Ismael Torres told lawmakers on the interim Revenue Stabilization and Tax Policy Committee on Thursday. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE For every $1 increase in the annual average price of oil, New Mexico — the nation’s second-largest oil producer — sees a little over $57 million in increased revenue, Torres said. So the roughly $15 increase in the annual average price — from the $58 a barrel economists expected before the war to the $73 a barrel they project now — translates to roughly $850 million in new revenue, according to LFC estimates. All of that funding will benefit trust funds the state has established in recent years as repositories for surplus revenue that also generate returns to fund various programs. Specifically, the trust funds that will receive the $850 million include the Early Childhood Trust Fund, which is paying for universal childcare; the Medicaid Trust Fund, which pays for low-income health care; and the Behavioral Health Trust Fund, which provides long-term financing for behavioral health programs statewide. Torres did not specify Thursday how much each trust fund will receive. Torres noted, however, that the “great news” about the new funding for the trust funds is offset by what the oil price increases mean for New Mexico households. He cited a recent Moody’s Analytics report showing that average costs to households have increased $750 a month due to the war in Iran. That figure includes sharp increases in the price of gasoline. New Mexico’s average price per gallon has increased roughly $1.40 since February, according to AAA. Moody’s also estimates that a recession will result if oil prices reach $120 a barrel. In that scenario, “The pressure on household budgets will become so great that theres a decline in economic activity, and were currently on track for that,” Torres told lawmakers. New Mexico Rep. Micaela Lara Cadena (D-Mesilla) said the apparent contradiction from the war in Iran’s impacts — a windfall for the state, hardship for families — makes it all the more important that the state spend the new money wisely. “For me, its a moral obligation to think closely and to name out loud that a war is causing a surplus in our trust funds,” she said. “I hope we hold the purpose of those funds very close to heart, and make sure that when we raise money, when money comes to our coffers like that, that we spend it and spend it well.”
[Category: Economy, Gov & Politics, Iran war, Legislative Finance Committee, oil and gas, Rep. Micaela Lara Cadena, Revenue Stabilization and Tax Policy Commitee]
— First-time homebuyers face hurdles despite gradual improvement: at 6/4/26 9:19am
Ty and Allisha Setty pose with the two-bedroom house in suburban Cincinnati they bought in May for $170,000. Unlike many new homebuyers, the couple didn't need family help with the purchase. (Photo courtesy of Ty and Allisha Setty)The idea started with a sermon Micah Longmire heard at his Presbyterian church in Ogden, Utah, about the importance of grandparents in a child’s life. Longmire, now 31, exchanged a look with his mother-in-law. “We were like, ‘I’d be OK living with you after that sermon,’ and the ball rolled downhill from there,” Longmire said. Both families are now living in a house they bought together in Chattanooga, Tennessee, after a two-year nationwide search. Their partnership is an example of the lengths first-time homebuyers have gone to this year amid stubbornly high home prices and interest rates. “I make $200,000 and I wouldn’t have been able to buy a house by myself. That’s ridiculous,” Longmire said. His wife’s parents contributed $200,000 from selling their own home in Utah and retired to live with them in a 3,500-square-foot house that cost $585,000. Home prices rose this year, though not as much as inflation, so affordability increased in all regions as of April compared with a year before, according to the National Association of Realtors. But prices are settling at a high level. After inflation adjustment, they’re still less than 4% below the 2022 peak, though some areas with large-scale building, mostly in Florida and Texas, have seen prices drop, according to real estate analyst Bill McBrides CalculatedRisk newsletter. Help from family and even shared living arrangements are becoming the norm in higher-priced areas. “The family now has accumulated so much equity that they’re able to help their kids make these downpayments. Many people like to live in multi-generational households for reasons of culture and also cost,” said Nadia Evangelou, senior economist for the National Association of Realtors. Nationally a typical single-family home cost $422,300 in April, up $4,300 from a year before, according to the National Association of Realtors. But the typical family made about $6,000 more in that time, and mortgage rates came down a little, so affordability improved. But a shortage of affordable starter homes is slowing the market and keeping it hard to buy for first-timers. Last year the median age of first-time buyers reached a record 40 years old, while the median repeat buyer was 62, as the housing market became dominated by repeat buyers who could sell a house at today’s high prices. “Affordability today is still nowhere near what it was for much of the last decade,” Evangelou said. Between 2009 and 2016, the typical family had about 70% more income than it needed to buy the typical median-priced house, while today it’s a much smaller margin of about 11% as of April. Quotation Many young households still face the most challenging home-buying environment in decades. – Nadia Evangelou, senior economist, National Association of Realtors San Francisco is an extreme example: The artificial intelligence boom has driven median home prices to a record $2.15 million, according to the real estate brokerage firm Compass. So Charlie and Nettie Culp felt lucky to get a 1,500-square-foot condo for $1.5 million. The couple, both 32, work in finance and tech and saved for years with some family help, putting down $500,000 and taking a $1 million mortgage in May. “That’s a lot of money for what you get, but that’s the market and it’s a beautiful city,” Charlie Culp said. He has lived in the city since 2015, at times sharing rent among as many as four people while saving money. “I saw the AI boom coming in San Francisco, so we decided to reach out to our landlord and ask if she was willing to sell,” he said. First-time buyers are particularly hard-pressed: They lack profits from a previous house, and the smaller houses they can buy are in short supply. The number of houses on the market is rising, but mostly at the high-priced end. “Many young households still face the most challenging homebuying environment in decades,” Evangelou said. “The question isnt simply whether more homes are coming into the market, the question is whether those homes that are available for sale are at price points that local households can actually afford.” The nation needs another 311,000 houses selling for less than $261,000 to meet the needs of middle-income families — buyers earning around $75,000 — according to a May report that Evangelou co-authored. Several states considered legislation this year aimed specifically at creating more starter homes. A New Mexico law signed in March by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham creates no-interest loans of up to $75,000 for down payments to first-time buyers with moderate income. The loans are meant as an incentive for builders to create smaller houses. Several states moved to curb minimum lot sizes, seen as an impediment to starter homes and other affordable housing, often drawing opposition from cities. Colorado considered a measure this year allowing smaller lots for building, hoping to “expand attainable homeownership opportunities for first-time homebuyers.” It was opposed by the Colorado Municipal League, which said it “removes community planning and public input from the decision-making process.” The bill passed the state House but was killed in a state Senate committee. Florida also considered smaller lots and other incentives for starter homes in a bill this year that died in committee after opposition from the Florida League of Cities. A similar bill that would limit minimum lot sizes, aimed at creating more starter homes and other affordable housing, was under consideration this year in Hawaii but did not pass after clearing a state Senate committee. Democratic state Sen. Stanley Chang, the bill’s sponsor, told Stateline that “some version of the concept” will be considered in future sessions. The Midwest continues to have the highest affordability, according to the National Association of Realtors report. Ty Setty, 29, and his wife, Allisha, 32, had been renting for six years near Cincinnati, but they needed no family help to buy their new $170,000 house, a two-bedroom in suburban Delhi Township, Ohio. “We had been looking at houses for a few years and just couldn’t afford them, or we let ourselves think that,” Ty Setty said. After two weeks of looking on Zillow and touring nine houses, they saw this house as a new listing and “fell in love. We put an offer on it that night,” Ty Setty said. “They accepted the next morning. That was a long 12 hours.” For the Longmire family in Chattanooga, the partnership between parents raising children and grandparents needing their own affordable housing has worked out well. “Grandparents want to live with their grandchildren, and you know parents need a babysitter on date night,” Micah Longmire said. “The story that were telling through our life right now is, that if you can work with your family, dont give in to the pressure of the world to go it alone.” Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@stateline.org. This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Source New Mexico, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
[Category: Economy]
— New Mexico officials urge federal action after confirmed New World screwworm case in Texas: at 6/4/26 9:11am
The New World screwworm, a parasitic fly, is rapidly moving through Mexico and posing a threat to U.S. herds for the first time in 60 years. (Courtesy U.S. Department of Agriculture)New Mexico officials called on federal officials to do more to protect the state’s livestock and wildlife in the wake of the first confirmed case of a parasitic fly in neighboring Texas Wednesday — the first incursion of New World screwworm in the U.S. in decades. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE The parasitic fly was detected in a 3-week old calf, and there have been no other detections in the U.S. so far. The pest is named for the maggot’s behavior of burrowing into flesh and causing serious or fatal wounds in animals. Last year, it advanced northward through Mexico after being mainly contained in Central America for several decades. Before U.S. officials declared the fly eradicated in 1966, the wounds from the parasites would kill wild and domestic animals, costing up to hundreds of millions of dollars. In a statement to Source NM, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) said the case in La Pryor, Texas, which is about 500 miles from the New Mexico state line, poses “a major risk to cattle operations in New Mexico and if spread, could wreak havoc on domestic beef prices.” Vasquez also noted that he and others have been “asking USDA for clear guidance for this very moment and urging the agency to speed up its timeline to finish the sterile fly facility we approved many months ago.” Now, he noted, “We must take immediate action now to prevent further spread.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement Wednesday it would deploy a specialized team to partner with Texas agriculture officials; establish additional surveillance and quarantine procedures within in a 12-mile radius; and deploy more “sterilized flies” — males that have been irradiated and can no longer reproduce — to try and prevent spread. New Mexico officials launched a one-stop website in mid-May to track potential New World screwworm cases in the state, offer resources for identifying the fly and the best contacts if an infestation is spotted. Samantha Holeck, state veterinarian with the New Mexico Livestock Board, said the state is taking an “all-hands-on-deck approach” to provide outreach and education to animal shelters, ranchers and hunters to identify the pest. “The nationwide shortage of veterinarians makes this a challenge,” she told Source NM “So it’s people that are out there every day – not just the livestock industry, but animal shelters, rescues — theyre gonna be our first line of detection if theyre seeing animals that are affected and reporting it promptly.” Holeck said New Mexico will offer any support to Texas agriculture officials and watch the response closely to determine the best surveillance and treatment steps. “Weve worked hard to prepare these plans and now itll be time to test them,” she said.
[Category: Gov & Politics, Health, cattle, livestock, Mexico, New World screwworm, parasitic fly, pets, Texas, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, USDA]
— New Mexico officials urge federal action after confirmed New World Screwworm case in Texas: at 6/4/26 9:11am
The New World screwworm, a parasitic fly, is rapidly moving through Mexico and posing a threat to U.S. herds for the first time in 60 years. (Courtesy U.S. Department of Agriculture)New Mexico officials called on federal officials to do more to protect the state’s livestock and wildlife in the wake of the first confirmed case of a parasitic fly in neighboring Texas Wednesday — the first incursion of New World screwworm in the U.S. in decades. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE The parasitic fly was detected in a 3-week old calf, and there have been no other detections in the U.S. so far. The pest is named for the maggot’s behavior of burrowing into flesh and causing serious or fatal wounds in animals. Last year, it advanced northward through Mexico after being mainly contained in Central America for several decades. Before U.S. officials declared the fly eradicated in 1966, the wounds from the parasites would kill wild and domestic animals, costing up to hundreds of millions of dollars. In a statement to Source NM, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) said the case in La Pryor, Texas, which is about 500 miles from the New Mexico state line, poses “a major risk to cattle operations in New Mexico and if spread, could wreak havoc on domestic beef prices.” Vasquez also noted that he and others have been “asking USDA for clear guidance for this very moment and urging the agency to speed up its timeline to finish the sterile fly facility we approved many months ago.” Now, he noted, “We must take immediate action now to prevent further spread.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement Wednesday it would deploy a specialized team to partner with Texas agriculture officials; establish additional surveillance and quarantine procedures within in a 12-mile radius; and deploy more “sterilized flies” — males that have been irradiated and can no longer reproduce — to try and prevent spread. New Mexico officials launched a one-stop website in mid-May to track potential New World screwworm cases in the state, offer resources for identifying the fly and the best contacts if an infestation is spotted. Samantha Holeck, state veterinarian with the New Mexico Livestock Board, said the state is taking an “all-hands-on-deck approach” to provide outreach and education to animal shelters, ranchers and hunters to identify the pest. “The nationwide shortage of veterinarians makes this a challenge,” she told Source NM “So it’s people that are out there every day – not just the livestock industry, but animal shelters, rescues — theyre gonna be our first line of detection if theyre seeing animals that are affected and reporting it promptly.” Holeck said New Mexico will offer any support to Texas agriculture officials and watch the response closely to determine the best surveillance and treatment steps. “Weve worked hard to prepare these plans and now itll be time to test them,” she said.
[Category: Gov & Politics, Health, cattle, livestock, Mexico, New World screwworm, parasitic fly, pets, Texas, U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, USDA]
— First U.S. screwworm case confirmed in South Texas: at 6/4/26 6:10am
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday confirmed the county's first case of New World screwworm in South Texas. (Allie Goulding/The Texas Tribune) McALLEN — The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday confirmed the country’s first case of New World screwworm — the parasitic fly poised to harm the state’s $15 billion cattle industry — in South Texas. The USDA tested a sample from La Pryor in Zavala County at the USDAs National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, lowa, confirming the infestation, Secretary Brooke Rollins said during a press conference about the case. The infested animal is a three-week old calf, and there have been no other detections so far. The USDA said in a social media post earlier Wednesday that it was testing a suspected screwworm sample and that it had already activated personnel on the ground and were working with local partners. The confirmation comes one day after Rollins debunked the claims of a state lawmaker that the screwworm was less than 1 mile from the U.S.-Mexico border. State and federal officials had been bracing for the arrival of screwworm for months, fearing its potential impact to livestock and the agriculture industry at-large. The parasitic fly targets the live flesh of warm mammals including cattle, pets, wildlife and humans. Screwworm infects them by embedding their larvae in open wounds. The larvae feed off the flesh, causing severe wounds or death. Rollins said residents near affected areas should check their pets for signs of screwworm infection, which include infected wounds and screwworm eggs or larvae. She also said that issues with screwworms should not cause food supply chain issues, as screwworms do not infest meat, fruits or vegetables. Screwworm had been eradicated in the U.S. since the 1960s when the pest was pushed back into Central America. However, cases began springing up in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. In 2024, Mexico reported its first case. Since early 2025, the U.S. has deployed more than 8,000 traps capable of detecting screwworm, Rollins said, resulting in 58,000 samples and 19,000 wildlife tested — all of which tested negative, until todays case. Rollins blamed the spread of screwworm toward the U.S.-Mexico border on “the open-border policies of the last administration and the resulting illicit cattle movement” in a separate social media post an hour before Wednesday’s press conference. She also said that she met virtually with Texas’ Animal Health Commission and about 50 cattle ranchers, and has been in contact with Gov Greg Abbott and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows. In an effort to prevent its spread, the USDA shut down the southern border to live animal imports in May 2025, preventing cattle from Mexico from entering the U.S. and limiting the supply of cattle in Texas. U.S. officials are also working with officials in Mexico and Panama to try to eradicate the screwworm again using the sterile fly method. This practice consists of producing male sterile flies to have them reproduce unviable eggs with female flies who can only reproduce once in their lifetime. At the time of their spread from Central America into Mexico, there was only one sterile fly production facility, located in Panama. Since then, U.S. officials have helped launch another in Metapa, Mexico and are building another in Edinburg, Texas, which Rollins said is slated to open in fall 2027. They’ve also launched two fly dispersal facilities, which help distribute sterile flies in needed areas, in Tampico, Mexico and Edinburg. On Monday, state Rep. Don McLaughlin, a Uvalde Republican, claimed the fly was just one mile away from Texas. Rollins dismissed those claims Tuesday at a news conference, calling McLaughlin “well-intentioned” but wrong. “Well … maybe we should listen to our state representatives,” McLaughlin tweeted after the USDA announced the suspected case Wednesday. “If this case is confirmed I will stand lockstep with every local, state and federal agency to work together and fight this horror,” he said. “As we gather more information and work with different agencies we will keep South Texas informed and protected.” Texas Agriculture Sid Miller criticized the federal government’s response to screwworm as “slow, bureaucratic, and [an] incomplete response” in a press release on Wednesday shortly before the case was confirmed. He also asked President Donald Trump to approve deployment of the Screwworm Adult Suppression System, which was tested by the U.S. in the late 1970s to eradicate screwworms using bait and insecticides. In an interview with The Texas Tribune on Tuesday before the Texas screwworm case was confirmed, Miller said he was frustrated with the current response and that the SWASS system could quickly solve a potential outbreak. “It’s the most frustrating thing Ive run up against in my 12 years as Ag Commissioner,” Miller said. “We have the ability to shut that and eradicate that screwworm. We can do it in about 60 days. USDA has the tools and the knowledge to do it.” In February, Florida officials detected screwworm larvae in an imported horse from Argentina as the animal made its way through the required import process. However, officials assured no case of screwworm had been detected outside of the quarantine area or in any Florida-based animal. Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune. 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[Category: Environment & Climate Change, Gov & Politics, Health, screwworm]

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