SANTA TERESA, New Mexico (Border Report) – Republican lawmakers on Tuesday called on New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to address the migrant smuggling and fentanyl trafficking crisis by deploying National Guard troops to the southern portion of the state.
The call came from a GOP delegation of state lawmakers and sheriffs accompanying the U.S. Border Patrol on a tour of a stretch between Doña Ana and Luna counties rife with organized smuggling activity and encounters with migrants not trying to apply for asylum but seeking to evade capture.
“The other three border states with Mexico have all taken the National Guard and, in one way or the other, (place them) along the border. We are hearing from Border Patrol that has forced the illegal immigration to look for the weak spots, and there are weak spots all across the New Mexico border,” said state Rep. Rod Montoya, R-San Juan.
The Santa Teresa Border Patrol station is one of the busiest in the country when it comes to migrant smuggling attempts, according to the agency.
Texas Department of Public Safety car chases that often result in arrests and sometimes in crashes often originate with smugglers picking up migrants near the New Mexico communities of Santa Teresa and Sunland Park. Most of the 149 migrants who died in the El Paso Sector of the Border Patrol perished in the desert of New Mexico, as smugglers left them behind with little food or water, the agency reported.
Lawmakers said border agents told them how smugglers are using injured or sick migrants as decoys to draw the Border Patrol away from larger groups of migrants seeking to evade authorities. Small, unaccompanied minors separated from the group are another favored decoy tactic by smugglers.
The lawmakers said they’ll propose harsher state penalties for fentanyl traffickers in the upcoming special session of the legislature.
“The other states have found a way to affect the transportation of fentanyl. There’s a road map that the other states, including Gavin Newsom’s California, whom most of the time our governor is quick to jump onto any legislation that California pushes through. This is one area we agree our governor needs to follow the lead of Gavin Newsom and put the National Guard along the border,” Montoya said.
Last September, Gov. Newsom announced a $1 billion investment to combat the fentanyl crisis in the state that included deploying 60 California National Guard troops to four U.S. ports of entry.
Border Report reached out to Gov. Lujan Grisham’s office for comment and is awaiting a response. Earlier, Lujan Grisham said she shared Republican lawmakers’ concerns about border security but urged them to persuade their federal counterparts in the U.S. House to approve a bipartisan border plan.
State Rep. Jenifer Jones, R-Deming, whose district includes more than 100 miles of U.S. border, said transnational criminal organizations are targeting Southern New Mexico communities. Their law enforcement officers need all the help they can get against smugglers using backroads to reach Interstates 10 and 25, she said.
“Transnational gangs are watching every square foot of the border. They are professional criminals who will exploit any border weakness in order to gain power and money, and New Mexico is the weakest link and is getting weaker without action from our governor,” Jones said. “We have become the path of least resistance. The rugged desert in my district is a freeway for crime, putting my constituents’ lives and the livelihoods of all New Mexicans at risk.”
Jones said she’s aware of the family and economic ties between residents on both sides of the border. “We depend on each other. We don’t want a closed border, we want a secure and safe border and we want laws that hold lawbreakers accountable,” she said.
Members of the GOP delegation acknowledged it’s primarily up to the federal government to pass and enforce immigration laws, but state lawmakers have an obligation to address public safety crises that affect their communities.
