In her State of the State address last week, Gov. Susana Martinez called for building more infrastructure on the border.
“Relax Mr. Speaker,” the governor said. “I’m not talking about a wall.”
Courtesy photo
Bill McCamley
Democrats want that in writing.
A group of state lawmakers is backing legislation that would prohibit selling state land to build a wall on the border with Mexico.
“Mexico is obviously not going to pay for it,” one of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Bill McCamley, D-Las Cruces, told reporters on Monday, referring to President Donald Trump’s pledge that the country’s southern neighbor will pay for the project. “And the border wall is ineffective,” McCamley said.
The Democrat from Las Cruces called the idea “a 12th Century solution to a 21st Century problem” and argued a wall would be a setback for a state that is trying to boost trade and has strong cultural ties to Mexico.
The state owns about 22 miles of land along New Mexico’s 180-mile southern border, mostly in the Bootheel.
House Bill 138 is something of a longshot. Martinez would have to add it to the agenda for this 30-day session. And even if she decided to take that stand against her fellow Republican in the White House, it may not go far. A similar bill died in the Legislature last year.
But House Democrats say it would send a message to Trump that New Mexicans do not want the wall he has promised.
It is not just a partisan issue, however. Some Republicans, such as U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican candidate for governor this year, have criticized the idea of building a wall along the entire border with Mexico.
This article comes from The Santa Fe New Mexican. NMPolitics.net is paying for the rights to publish articles about the 2018 legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by making a donation to NMPolitics.net.