Free Republic

A sweeping gun control proposal that critics say represents one of the most extreme assaults on the Second Amendment in New Mexico history is now headed to the Senate floor. Senate Bill 17, which would ban the sale of a broad range of semi-automatic firearms and impose heavy new mandates on federally licensed gun dealers, advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday night on a 6–3 party-line vote. An effort to strip out the bill’s semi-automatic firearm and standard-capacity magazine bans failed on a 4–5 vote, clearing the way for the legislation to move forward in largely intact form....

In a move critics are calling reckless, ideologically driven, and economically devastating, New Mexico Democrats have fast-tracked House Bill 9, the so-called “Immigrant Safety Act”—through the Legislature and toward the governor’s desk, setting the stage for what opponents warn could be mass job losses, municipal insolvency, and a collapse of rural economies in Otero County, Torrance County, and Cibola County. The bill cleared the Senate late Tuesday night on a 24–15, near party-line vote after hours of heated debate. The House had already passed the measure earlier in the session after a lengthy debate led by Rep. John Block (R-Alamogordo),...

Poland is to launch an investigation into possible links between Jeffrey Epstein and Russian authorities. Prime Minister Donald Tusk wants to determine whether the convicted paedophile was working for the country's secret services.

The U.S. Border Patrol’s Big Bend Sector unveiled a first-of-its-kind advanced vehicle barrier system today at the Sierra Blanca immigration checkpoint, a critical enforcement location along Interstate 10. The GRAB 350 is a new semi-autonomous vehicle barrier system designed by Global GRAB Technologies to enhance public safety, strengthen border security and deter dangerous attempts to evade inspection. The new system, installed at the permanent immigration checkpoint in Hudspeth County approximately 90 miles east of El Paso, is the first of its kind deployed at any of the 45 permanent U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints nationwide. It is intended to deter and...

A woman shot in the head by a federal agent, widespread protests, families separated and American citizens unlawfully detained. State Rep. Eleanor Chavez, D-Albuquerque, described these scenes before introducing House Bill 9, which could shutter immigration detention centers in New Mexico. “Now is the time more than ever to pass the Immigrant Rights Act,” Chavez said before the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee on Thursday. Located in rural Cibola, Torrance and Otero counties, New Mexico's detention facilities have a combined detainee population of more than 1,500 people, according to recent estimates. Though the bill would not directly close all...

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman sent a letter Wednesday to a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in Albuquerque warning that some practices of federal agents in other states could be prosecuted as a felony offense under New Mexico law. ICE officials who detain someone without a warrant signed by a judge can be charged under New Mexico's felony false imprisonment law, which contains no exceptions for law enforcement officers, Bregman wrote. "I write to express my deep concern about ICE procedures and operations across the country," he said in the letter sent to William Shaw, assistant field office...

Hundreds of students staged a walkout at several schools across Albuquerque on Tuesday in protest of immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump. The nationwide "Free America Walkout" saw students at six Albuquerque Public Schools campuses leave their classes, according to a statement from the district. The students walked out at 2 p.m. in protest of recent actions taken by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Students at Manzano, Highland, Sandia, Albuquerque High, Del Norte and Eldorado high schools joined in the walkout. In an official statement, APS said the district “does not sponsor or encourage walkouts, but we understand...

The U.S. federal government is about to begin construction of a new border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in the Mount Cristo Rey area of ​​Sunland Park, New Mexico. According to the El Paso Sector Border Patrol and the Ciudad Juárez Civil Protection Department, controlled detonations are expected to begin today (20 Jan) to prepare the ground and lay the foundation for this new border wall... ...last summer that approximately 1.3 kilometers of new border barrier were approved for the Sunland Park area, south of the mountain. The goal of this new wall in that area is to deter illegal...

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has awarded a nearly $1.7 billion contract to construct vital border barriers and advanced “smart wall” technology in New Mexico’s remote Bootheel region. Announced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on January 6, 2026, the $1,679,170,000 award went to Fisher Sand and Gravel Co. (parent of Fisher Industries) for 49 miles of primary border wall and 60 miles of secondary barriers in Hidalgo County, between Border Monuments 1 and 49. The project includes patrol roads, cameras, sensors, and detection systems—creating a layered, high-tech deterrent against illegal crossings, drug trafficking, and threats to national security.

The U.S. Geological Survey said a new assessment shows the Permian Basin in Texas contains an estimated 1.6 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 28.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Woodford and Barnett shale formations. The findings highlight major untapped energy potential deep beneath West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. According to the USGS, the two formations could also yield about 813 million barrels of natural gas liquids. At current consumption levels, the oil alone would supply the United States for roughly 10 weeks, while the natural gas could meet national demand for about 10...

Even before the 2026 New Mexico Legislative Session officially begins, far-left lawmakers have moved to prefile what gun-rights advocates are calling the most sweeping anti-firearms proposal in state history. According to a press release issued this week by the New Mexico Shooting Sports Association, an omnibus gun control measure has been prefiled in the Senate, sponsored by Democrat Sen. Bill O’Malley, Sen. Peter Wirth, Sen. Heather Berghmans, and Rep. Andrea Romero. Its contents are already drawing sharp backlash from Second Amendment supporters across the state. Zac Fort, legislative director for NMSSA, warned that the proposal represents a dramatic escalation in...

Three Texas men used shell companies to pocket revenues from hundreds of New Mexico oil and gas wells while leaving the state with cleanup costs for abandoned properties, Attorney General Raúl Torrez alleges in a new lawsuit. The suit describes a complex asset-stripping scheme in which profitable wells were placed in certain companies while non-productive wells remained in other companies that filed for bankruptcy. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe on behalf of New Mexico and the state Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources Department. The suit names as defendants Everett Willard Gray, Marquis...

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A Republican push to make drilling cheaper on federal land is creating new fiscal pressure for states that depend on oil and gas revenue, most notably in New Mexico as it expands early childhood education and saves for the future. The shift stems from the sweeping law President Donald Trump signed in July that rolls back the minimum federal royalty rate to 12.5%. That rate — the share of production value companies must pay to the government — held steady for a century under the 1920 Mineral Leasing Act. It was raised to 16.7% under...

Incumbent Mayor Tim Keller won the runoff election and will lead Albuquerque for another four years, according to unofficial election results from Tuesday's municipal election. With 58% of the vote by 8 p.m. Tuesday, Keller — first elected in 2017 — bested challenger Darren White to become the city's first consecutive three-term mayor. The mayoral race focused largely on Albuquerque’s crime rate, homelessness, housing and economic development. Keller, a Democrat who has served as state auditor and in the state Legislature, defended his record and campaigned on the need for follow-through. White said he offered a changing of the guard...

New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver is once again at the center of a major election-integrity controversy — this time after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit accusing her of illegally blocking access to the state’s voter registration database. Instead of complying with federal law, Toulouse Oliver — who is campaigning for lieutenant governor — is now attacking the DOJ and framing basic election-integrity oversight as a political assault. Toulouse Oliver responded on X immediately after the lawsuit was announced, claiming the federal action is “part of the Trump administration’s assault on free and fair...

New Mexico’s anti-gun politicians are again taking aim at lawful firearms dealers, pushing a proposal that Second Amendment advocates warn could deliver the “final death blow” to the gun industry by criminalizing shops for crimes committed by others. For longtime Albuquerque gun dealer Arnie Gallegos, the narrative pushed by these lawmakers is far removed from reality. Gallegos, who has owned ABQ Guns for 15 years, already keeps a vigilant eye out for anything suspicious. “If they’re buying, like, 15 ARs, or they’re ordering an AR every week or something like that, that’s kind of a red flag,” he said. If...

Powerful families, millions of dollars and fake investigations.The House Democrats on the Oversight Committee, whose header is a picture of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, released a cache of emails that they claimed indicted Trump. Instead the emails again confirm that Trump had broken ties with Epstein and wanted nothing more to do with him.The Democrat members of the committee showed no interest in why members of their party in three states, New York, Florida and New Mexico, covered up for Epstein and kept him off the sex offender registry. That’s not something Trump, who didn’t even hold public office until...

The Department of the Interior today announced the successful seizure of more than 37,000 fentanyl pills during a coordinated drug interdiction operation on the Pueblo of Isleta Reservation in New Mexico, led by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement and Pueblo of Isleta Tribal Police. The operation, which also included the Homeland Security Task Force, resulted in the seizure of approximately 37,300 fentanyl pills with a street value of nearly $1.5 million and $37,877 in cash. "We commend the law enforcement teams from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Pueblo of Isleta, and all of the other...

SANTA FE — The New Mexico Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of a 2023 lawsuit aimed at dramatically curtailing oil and natural gas production in the state. The state’s Court of Appeals in June dismissed the lawsuit, which was filed by a coalition of Native American activists and environmental groups. But the plaintiffs subsequently appealed that ruling, and New Mexico’s highest court issued an order this week accepting the case. “We have a strong Constitution in New Mexico, and I’m confident the Supreme Court will uphold New Mexicans’ right to protection of our health and our environment,”...

For Maggie Aragon, a New Mexico woman who’s relied on federal food assistance for more than 30 years, the moment her SNAP balance dropped to zero was life-altering, she says. “When I heard, ‘Zero dollars,’ my chest went into my throat,” Aragon told KOAT 7 News, describing the fear and panic that set in when she discovered her benefits had been cut off due to the ongoing Democrat-led government shutdown. “It’s detrimental to my life.” Aragon, who said she also depends on local food banks to survive, is one of tens of thousands of New Mexicans now facing uncertainty as...