New Mexico is not new to the impact of immigration as we lie just above the Mexico-United States border. Given its influence in the state, immigration puts into question the availability of New Mexico’s infrastructure, police forces, hospitals, and shelters. The question for voters participating in the general election: can our state handle immigration, and what do the politicians say?
New Mexico’s Democratic incumbent Sen. Martin Heinrich states on his website that he has been working on “reducing the flow of firearms that have been fueling violence in the Northern Triangle and causing migration north. But there is still much, much more work to do – including for border security and a pathway to citizenship.” Heinrich refers to Central American countries of the “Northern Triangle” such as Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, which have created many migrants due to poverty, political violence, and insecurity. U.S. firearm manufacturers have been for years legally exporting weapons ranging from handguns to semi-automatic rifles to these countries, but there is nothing to regulate what happens to these firearms once they reach the buyer. About half of all guns seized at crime scenes in these regions have been U.S.-made. Currently, the Americas Regional Monitoring of Arms Sales (ARMAS) Act of 2023, which will regulate the sale of munitions and firearms to Central America and crack down on firearm trafficking to these countries, is still in committee and is waiting to be brought to a vote in the House of Representatives. So far there is no currently passed legislation that resolves the matter of the illegal and legal gun trade to Central America.
Republican Nella Domenici, running for Martin Heinrich’s place in the Senate, states on her website, “We are a country of immigrants. We are also a country of laws.” She then goes on to say, “With the backing of Senator Heinrich, President Biden used Executive Orders to open our border and invited lawlessness as millions of illegal immigrants have flowed into our country.” President Biden’s immigration executive orders started on his first day with Executive Order 13993 repealing former-President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13768. Trump’s Executive Order 13768 enforced the abolishment of sanctuary jurisdictions and gave state and local law enforcement the ability to act with the same responsibilities of immigration enforcement. In the matter of creating a more relaxed system, Domenici is correct, as Biden’s order limited enforcement of immigration laws. However, Martin Heinrich did vote in favor of passing the Border Act of 2024, backed by President Biden, which would have granted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) emergency authority over border regions, including in New Mexico, if necessary to combat illegal immigration. However, this bill failed to appease Domenici’s Republican colleagues in the Senate and was voted down. The amount of illegal immigrants in the United States has stayed at a steady estimated rate between 10-12 million over the past 15 years with the peak being around 12 million in 2008, a low point of 10.1 million in 2020, and 11.7 million in 2023. The amount of illegal immigrants under Donald Trump was lower than Biden’s, but that was part of a downward trend starting in the Obama Administration. Consequently, Domenici’s claim brings up a misleading statistic not contextually situated in a broader trend.
Democratic Rep. Gabe Vasquez, the incumbent running in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional district, stated about immigration, “[He] has lived on both sides of the US-Mexico Border, and he knows the challenges and opportunities of our current immigration system firsthand,” and, “We must reform our immigration system to protect DREAMERS and provide hard-working families with a permanent path to citizenship while ensuring we have a safe and secure border.” Gabe Vasquez was born in El Paso and raised in the neighboring city on the border, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Unlike other running candidates, Vasquez and his team do not try to give any precise standpoint on immigration besides where Vasquez lived.
Republican Yvette Herrell is running against Vasquez in District 2, where she was the Representative until 2023. On her website, Herrell includes in her “Shared Values” section one of her “commonsense solutions” to “secure the border and support Border Patrol.” The reason that Americans are currently unsafe, according to Herrell, is that “Washington has left Americans to fend for themselves on the Southern Border.” A lack of attention from the Biden administration might be true, but the money allocated to border protection contradicts that. Currently, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been given a budget of 23 billion dollars this year from the DHS. Comparatively, DHS has been allocated 183 billion dollars in their budget this year. This means that there has been significant attention in the forms of funding as it does take up a significant amount of the budget of the DHS.
Democrat Melanie Stansbury, the incumbent in the 1st Congressional District of New Mexico, states on her website, “We must take a compassionate approach to fixing our immigration system and reversing the discriminatory practices put in place by the last administration,” and, “I support humane immigration policies that address root causes of migration and provide opportunities for immigration.” Stansbury does not address many political proposals and ideas to prove her claims compared to Steve Jones, her opponent.
Republican Steve Jones is running for Stansbury’s seat in the 1st Congressional District. He states on the border, “Prioritizing the implementation of robust border security strategies, including the strategic construction of physical barriers in key areas, is vital,” and, “A secure border fosters a controlled, orderly immigration process enabling us to welcome individuals who seek to contribute positively to our society.” Jones justifies these actions, saying, “It’s about protecting American workers from unfair competition by ensuring that employment opportunities are preserved for those who have entered the country through legal channels. It’s also about preventing the entry of criminals and contraband, thereby contributing to the safety and health of our communities.”
Historically and currently, immigration has not negatively influenced the pay of the American workforce, nor has it taken the jobs that are currently filled by American workers on a large scale. Rather, immigration between 2021 and 2024 has kept the job market filled with a new supply of workers in the midst of severe competition between businesses, benefiting the economy. Moreover, the offending rate of documented immigrants compared to the U.S. born Citizens was consistently lower in the state of Texas in the years from 2012 to 2018. The rate of undocumented immigrant offenses is substantially lower. 90% of prosecutions for immigrants from 1990 to 2018 have been for the violation of immigration law; meanwhile, U.S citizens are more likely to commit violent crimes, property crimes, or drug-related crimes.
All the people listed above have to appeal to the New Mexican voter and present their ideas in the context of immigration. Despite the difference in reasoning, there is a common consensus among most of the candidates: create a secure border and sustain legal immigration through reform.