New Mexico

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico and its largest city sued the Trump administration Monday in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit from a state seeking to stem the quick release of asylum seeking migrants into local communities and claim reimbursement for humanitarian efforts to shelter migrants temporarily.

Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham cited a “derogation of duty” in announcing the lawsuit against acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan and top federal immigration officials, with Albuquerque listed as co-plaintiff.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — One of the largest annual gatherings of indigenous people in the United States begins Friday in New Mexico, where organizers of the two-day powwow say they want to build awareness around the deaths and disappearances of Native American women.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Border Patrol agents dropped off asylum-seeking migrants in New Mexico’s second most populous city for the second day in a row Saturday, prompting Las Cruces city officials to appeal for donations of food and personal hygiene items and a state medical program to seek volunteers to provide health assessments of migrants.

The migrants were being temporarily housed at a homeless shelter in Las Cruces, a city recreation center and a campus of social service agencies, city officials said in a statement.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico would become the first U.S. state to set up its own government-operated marijuana stores and subsidize medical cannabis for the poor under a bill brokered between Republicans and Democrats, as a new wave of states weighs legislation that would legalize recreational sales and consumption.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The governor of New Mexico ordered the withdrawal of the majority of the state’s National Guard troops from the U.S. border with Mexico on Tuesday, in a move that challenges President Trump’s description of a security crisis.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the partial withdrawal shortly before Trump’s State of the Union address. Her Republican predecessor deployed National Guard troops to the border in April 2018 at Trump’s suggestion, and 118 remained there before Tuesday’s reversal.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. land managers will move forward in March with the sale of oil and gas leases that include land near Chaco Culture National Historical Park and other sites sacred to Native American tribes.

The sale comes as Democratic members of Congress, tribal leaders and environmentalists have criticized the federal Bureau of Land Management for pushing ahead with drilling permit reviews and preparations for energy leases despite the recent government shutdown.

26 Dec 2018; DW: The 8-year-old migrant boy was in US Border Patrol custody along with his father when he fell ill. He is the second Guatemalan child to die in custody at the border this month.

Another Central American child died during detention in the state of New Mexico, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed on Tuesday. The boy was an 8-year-old from Guatemala.

22 Nov 2018; AFP: US troops stationed on the border with Mexico ahead of the expected arrival of a Central American migrant caravans can intervene to quell violence but will be armed only with batons, Defense Minister Jim Mattis said on Wednesday.

The White House has given almost 5,800 troops posted along the frontier guidance that they can come to the aid of any Customs and Border Protection agents who come under attack, Mattis told reporters.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico woman who was brought back to life is suing the hospital for violating her rights.

The Albuquerque Journal reports lawyers for Jamie Sams filed a lawsuit this week in New Mexico state district court against Santa Fe’s Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center.

The lawsuit filed on behalf Sams, a writer known for books on spirituality, says the hospital and a doctor who was treating her are to blame for her going into cardiac arrest. The lawsuit says Sams was given a painkiller even after she told staff she was allergic to it.