Sen. Wirth

A proposal to ban all ICE detention facilities in the state is on the fast track for the upcoming legislative session with Dem leadership and the Governor not yet mentioning any possible repercussions from the Trump administration if such a measure is approved. 

Others outside the Roundhouse are warning that closing the ICE centers would draw national attention and could prompt the White House, always on the lookout for political payback, to give New Mexico some for flaunting its opposition to the hyper-controversial immigration agency.  

But Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, echoing arguments from outraged Democratic progressives and speaking for one of nine majority-minority states in the nation, is determined: 

Having ICE facilities in our state is something that the House has really taken leadership in. It’s been the Senate that’s been the challenge. Our (Dem Senate) caucus is going to fully support that bill, and it’s time. We need to stand up, and this is a place where we as a state can send a signal. The governor supports this. I think it’s important that we get it across the line. Given what we’ve seen just recently in Minnesota, enough is enough.

Recent reports note three ICE immigration detention facilities in New Mexico.​ Cibola County Correctional Center; Otero County Processing Center and the Torrance County Detention Facility.

The Centers employ hundreds of staff and are relied on in job-starved rural New Mexico. But the loss of other federal jobs and largess also worry observers if the state takes the bold move of confronting the administration over the facilities. 

Could there be retaliation at Sandia Labs where 500 hundred layoffs were already announced last year? Los Alamos Labs? Then there are the numerous federal grants that flow to the state and cities. Could an ICE shutdown trigger interruptions? There's already been many cuts in ABQ federal grants without any direct arguments with Washington. 

Statewide, $195.2 million in climate and energy funds were axed as part of $8 billion cuts to Democratic-led states, hitting all three NM congressional districts. Medicaid and food assistance reductions threaten rural hospitals and 90,000 residents' coverage. 

MLG and the legislature have not been very confrontational on federal policy during Trump 2.0 while other states that have been have suffered consequences. But Democrats are enraged over the aggressive tactics of ICE as seen in the Minnesota shooting and see the agency as a threat to individual freedom. That motivating principle has the ban on ICE detention centers being pushed to the top of the legislative pile. 

UNFETTERED IMMIGRATION 

While Democrats hail the more in-your-face opposition to the administration by their legislative leadership, this frustrated Republican vents that his party is so disorganized that an effective opposition is nowhere in sight: 

Are we going to see a headline that announces Trump moved Los Alamos and Sandia Labs to Ohio and Pennsylvania in 2026? That's a stretch but this kind of virtue signaling is juvenile and provides an incredible opportunity for the NMGOP, if there actually was one. The Democrats have become the official party of illegal immigration. If the NMGOP had its stuff together, they could defeat Democrats across the board just on this issue. The only groups in favor of unfettered and unquestioned illegal immigration are far left white liberals, criminal illegal aliens and the cartels. In 2024 Hispanics moved toward Trump (especially Hispanic men who have to compete with illegals in the job market) because they're not in favor of it, either. But again, with a toothless NMGOP without out any real leadership who's going to stop the Dems? 

PAY THEM!

Cliff Rees

Legislative attorney Cliff Rees, an advocate for a full-time paid legislature, writes of the report here on this year's $202 daily per diem each legislator receives during the 30 day session that begins next Tuesday:

The lack of salary means some Legislators, like former State Senator Siah Correa Hemphill of Grant County, need to help support their families and simply cannot afford to serve in the Legislature without at least a part-time salary. The NM Constitution (Article IV, Section 10) should be amended so that legislative officeholders are paid what they earn. 

FYI, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics recently issued a May, 2024 study of NM Occupations calculating the annual mean wage for NM "Legislators" (which no doubt includes County Commissioners and City Councilors who perform legislative functions, but not our State Legislators) as $62,560 annually, an increase from $52,200 annually as of May, 2023. If NM County Commissioners and City Councilors can earn a part-time salary, and have done so since Statehood in 1912 (see Article X, Section 1 of the NM Constitution), why shouldn't our State Legislators be treated similarly? 

That's a good argument. Perhaps voters would go for if if it doesn't include having legislators meet on a full-time basis. 

COUNTLESS HOURS

Larry McDaniel of Silver City, chair of the the Political Committee at Conservation Voters New Mexico, works closely with lawmakers and has this take:

Joe, Your Tuesday post concerning compensation for state legislators is misleading. I guess if you stay at the Motel 6 in Hobbs and eat at McDonald's while on committee assignment you might make out OK on per diem money, but this misses the mark on the bigger issue. 

Larry McDaniel

I know what a financial hardship it is for some to serve in the legislature. Besides the annual 30 or 60 day sessions there are countless hours devoted to constituent needs that are completely uncompensated. In many cases asking our legislators to be volunteers means that only those with means can afford to devote the time and effort to serve in the legislature. 

How many nurses or school teachers do we have in the NM Legislature? How many social workers that deal with day to day effects of generational poverty that impact the lives of so many New Mexicans are serving as volunteers in Santa Fe? 

New Mexico is the only state in the country that does not pay legislators a salary. I tip my hat to those  that give so much of their time already, but we, as voters, would be well served to have a legislature that was truly representative of all New Mexicans, and only by reasonable compensation can we expect to achieve that goal.  

ABQ Dem State Sen. Moe Maestas makes a point about the $202 daily per diem lawmakers get when in session. 

That takes into account the hotel rooms and meals for legislators but it doesn't account for lost income at a job or a business. 

Maestas adds that legislators are limited to a single reimbursed round trip to Santa Fe per legislative session, rather than mileage for each individual day they drive back and forth. In a first draft we had them getting the 72.5 cents per mile for each time they traveled to and from the session. 

Legislators do get the $202 per diem plus mileage reimbursement for each interim committee meeting they attend. Some lawmakers make attending them a habit, if only for a short time, and pocket the per diem each time they do.

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