Vasquez slams immigration agents over incident with high school athletes

By Matthew Reichbach

Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents boarded a charter bus with Las Cruces high school athletes on their way to a swim meet in Albuquerque. The driver reportedly didn’t speak English, which led to the agents entering the bus to question the     students over the objections of coaches.

State and local leadership with the American Federation of Teachers New Mexico issued a statement that said, “Under no circumstance should students be harassed, intimidated, or frightened by federal agents either while in school or while participating in school activities.”

U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez held a press conference Monday to discuss the situation, where he said there was no place for border patrol agents to harass students.

“Harrassing and frightening children does not make New Mexico safer,” he said.

In the press conference, in which he spoke both English and Spanish, Vasquez noted that many New Mexico residents speak Spanish and that should not be a cause for questioning their immigration status.

“Unfortunately, this incident is not an isolated one,” Vasquez said. 

He cited an incident in which a member of the Mescalero Apache tribe was questioned by an immigration agent.

Vasquez also said there are anonymous reports across the district of residents feeling “threatened or otherwise had to answer to Customs and Border Patrol or ICE agents.”

Vasquez sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanding information on the incident and said he wanted “full transparency” on what happened.

He also said, in response to a media question, “legislation is merited to make sure we prevent these types of abuses.”

Whitney Holland, the president of the American Federation of Teachers New Mexico, said this situation was different because agents boarded the bus and yelled at the students.

In a press release, the Republican Party of New Mexico sided with the border patrol agents.

“These officers are not to be feared. They are protectors of our communities, ensuring that our laws are upheld, and our citizens are secure,” Republican Party of New Mexico Chairwoman Amy Barela said. “Rep. Vasquez’s reckless rhetoric demonizes law enforcement, stoking fear among our youth and undermining the trust we need in those who serve.”

In a statement on Bluesky, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said, “Trump’s border patrol agents should focus on solving real problems like going after the cartels responsible for driving the fentanyl crisis that’s killing our children and ripping apart families. Not harassing our kids on their way to a swim meet.”

Odds and Ends

Legislators in the House and Senate recently had “work periods” in which they went back to their districts to hold events and speak with constituents (and probably to do some fundraising, since fundraising never stops for members of Congress).

With the Donald Trump administration, via Elon Musk’s DOGE, moving fast and breaking things across government, a lot of these events included pushback against the efforts.

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, for example, held a press conference at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque and highlighted the impact of the cuts.

“We have never seen a federal administration in this century that has ever left so many Americans living in fear…” she said. “We can agree to disagree, but we cannot allow an unelected billionaire and Donald Trump and his Republican enablers to continue to terrorize the American people.”

At the same press conference, Mescalero Apache Tribal Nation President Thora Padilla said the tribe had “identified over a million dollars in federal grants awarded to the tribe that are now on hold due to the funding freeze.”

• New Mexico’s delegation also sent a letter to President Donald Trump detailing how the firings or federal employees — which they said are likely illegal — have impacted New Mexico.
  “Immediately terminating probationary employees also risks long-term harm to the federal workforce,” the letter said. “Many of these probationary employees represent the next generation of skilled public servants – 27% are under the age of 30 – and they report the highest levels of job engagement across the federal workforce.”
• Senators held a marathon voting session on a budget resolution, an early part of the budget process. Democrats sought to introduce amendments to push back on budget cuts to key areas of government, but Republicans rejected them all. Heinrich spoke around 3 a.m. EST on Friday morning.
  “Alongside my Democrat colleagues, we also put forward solutions to cut taxes for working people, lower food costs and lower rent costs. Republicans rejected every single one – even blocking our amendment to say no tax cuts for people like Elon Musk making over $500,000,000,” Heinrich said. “I’m especially outraged that Republicans opposed my amendment to support survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence and ensure that law enforcement can hold abusers and predators accountable.”
• Sen. Ben Ray Luján was named the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media. When Democrats were in the majority, Luján served as chair of the subcommittee, which was then-named the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband. 
• This week it’s the House’s turn on the budget process, and it will be a version at odds with what the Senate proposed. The House has a very narrow Republican majority, and they are unlikely to garner many, if any, Democratic votes.
• Heinrich is one of the members behind a Democratic effort to defeat Trump’s declaration of “a national energy emergency” and the Senate vote on this is expected to take place this week. Heinrich, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, slammed the declaration last week in a statement.
  “America is producing more energy than ever before, including both conventional and renewable sources. This is happening because of the year-over-year certainty Democrats created with tax structures and permitting that has allowed us to make solar, wind, and energy storage cheaper, faster, and less capital intensive to add to the electric grid. We made it possible to build big things in America once again,” Heinrich said.
• KSFR reported on a press conference with Heinrich, Luján and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez in Santa Fe last week after the three addressed the Legislature.