press releases

COLUMBUS, N.M. - Some residents of the tiny border village of Columbus raised concerns this week about 10 trailers that recently arrived in the historic town center to house workers building 72 miles of the southern border wall.  The trailers are on Jesus Carreon Avenue, immediately behind the village library. Each trailer, one of...

Detainees in a federal facility near Grants say more than 20 people are being held in one room with no social distancing, little access to hygiene products and scant information about the new coronavirus, even as the global health crisis continues to spread. In an interview with The New Mexican, Yulian Llerena, a Cuban man being held in U.S....

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement calling for an immediate investigation of the conditions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities and procedures put in place to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to staff and detainees. “The health of all New...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, along with a group of 36 U.S. Senators and 87 U.S. Representatives, sent a letter pressing the Trump Administration on reports that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is preparing mass deportations of Dreamers, young immigrants who grew up in the United States and know no other...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich claim U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is using misleading tactics and campaigns against immigrant communities in the state. The two Democrats sent a letter to Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence on Thursday voicing their concerns. “We have received troubling reports...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) sent a letter to Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Matthew Albence for the agency’s use of misleading tactics and campaigns against immigrant communities in New Mexico. “We have received troubling reports from New Mexican...

U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) sent a letter on Nov. 15 to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acting secretary Chad Wolf and DHS inspector Gen. Joseph Cuffari requesting an investigation into oversight and conditions for detainees held at all Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall are calling for an investigation into conditions for detainees at all Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities. “We are troubled by continued reports of inhumane treatment at ICE detention facilities that appear to be widespread at facilities housing ICE...

U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich on Monday asked federal authorities investigate the conditions and oversight of immigrant detainees held in facilities such as the Otero County Processing Center in New Mexico. In a letter to acting U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, the Democratic senators from New Mexico said they had “deep...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 18, 2019) – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) today sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Chad Wolf and DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari requesting an investigation into the conditions and oversight for detainees held at all Immigration and Customs...

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule early next year on the Trump administration’s decision to discontinue the seven-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. But the fate of DACA recipients may not just rest in the hands of the high court. President Donald Trump sent signals again last week that he might be willing to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 13, 2019) – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) spoke on the Senate floor today after voting against the confirmation of Chad Wolf to serve as Undersecretary for Strategy, Policy, and Planning at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Wolf is widely expected to be appointed Acting DHS Secretary after his...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 13, 2019) – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement after voting against the confirmation of Chad Wolf to serve as Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Planning at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Wolf is widely expected to be appointed Acting DHS Secretary after his...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 12, 2019) – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is encouraging individuals protected under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to renew their status, and is calling for Senate action to protect DREAMers. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on DACA today. President Trump terminated the DACA program...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 30, 2019) – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement supporting Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham's call for a federal investigation into conditions at U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in New Mexico: “The deeply troubling reports of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 17, 2019) – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján, Deb Haaland, and Xochitl Torres Small sent a letter to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Acting Administrator Peter T. Gaynor requesting that localities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in New Mexico...

Washington, D.C. (Sept. 11, 2019) – Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced that the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) will investigate the Trump Administration’s efforts to use eminent domain to “take the land” of private landowners by any means necessary to...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation weren’t crying wolf earlier this year when they voiced concerns the state could lose millions of dollars in defense project funding to pay for a wall on the border with Mexico. The state took quite a hit when considering what projects could have been affected. Of...

Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation are criticizing a Department of Defense decision to divert $125 million from projects at two state military bases to help pay for the construction of a wall on the Mexican border. The lawmakers were informed of the decision Wednesday. It puts on hold an $85 million project for an unmanned...

Washington, D.C. (August 14, 2019) — U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), and Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) yesterday joined Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in a letter to U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro requesting that the U.S. Government Accountability Office investigate the Trump...