AG Torres sues feds for fentanyl records
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking Department of Justice records about federal fentanyl operations in New Mexico. Torrez has previously said that the DOJ rejected a records request he made in July and did not respond to an appeal.
The request and lawsuit come in response to whistleblower reports that the Drug Enforcement Administration knowingly allowed fentanyl onto New Mexico streets in order monitor and arrest higher level drug traffickers.
Overdose deaths have decreased nationally but continue to rise in New Mexico. The state has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on addiction programs and Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham dispatched the National Guard to fight drug trafficking and other crime in Española and Albuquerque last year.
Lujan Grisham, New Mexico's congressional delegation and city and state leaders have joined Torrez's call for greater transparency and cooperation regarding DEA operations in the state.
DOJ sues New Mexico over higher ed benefits for unauthorized immigrants
New Mexico is one of several state the federal government is suing over higher education benefits to unauthorized immigrants.
The lawsuit states that federal law, "prohibits illegal aliens from being eligible to receive postsecondary education benefits based on residence within a state if such benefits are denied to U.S. citizens residing in other states."
New Mexico is one of four states named in the lawsuit the Department of Justice filed on Thursday. Arizona, Oregon and Washington are also named. In total, the DOJ has sued 21 states over tuition policies for unauthorized immigrants.
Since 2005 New Mexico has offered in-state tuition benefits, scholarships and grants to students regardless of immigration status.
NM ag group pushes back against lifting beef tariffs
One group that typically leans conservative has some beef with a recent move by President Donald Trump- The New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association.
Trump signed a proclamation Thursday temporarily lifting tariffs on some foreign beef imports. Trump first announced potentially lifting the tariffs last week and pushback from farmers and lawmakers followed.
The New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association called dropping the tariffs QUOTE "the wrong signal at the wrong moment," in a statement issued before Trump signed the proclamation.
The statement went on to say that lifting tariffs may temporarily lower consumer beef prices but it won't address the underlying issues of high prices. The association would rather see more predictability- consistent access to pubic grazing land, greater action against threats like the New World Screw Worm and stable, long-term trade and import policy.
The proclamation will go into effect on September 1.
Subscribe on Spotifyor Apple Podcasts