{"id":1700,"date":"2007-05-09T16:10:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-09T22:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/05\/state-police-increase-patrols-after-palomas-shootings\/"},"modified":"2007-05-09T16:10:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-09T22:10:00","slug":"state-police-increase-patrols-after-palomas-shootings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/05\/state-police-increase-patrols-after-palomas-shootings\/","title":{"rendered":"State police increase patrols after Palomas shootings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> has ordered the New Mexico State Police to increase its presence along the Mexican border in response to violence that has left at least six people dead in Palomas, located across the border from Columbus<\/st1:city> in Luna<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Officials say the violence is part of an escalating drug war on the Mexican side of the border. Though there has been no related violence in Columbus<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, victims have fled to the port of entry.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to ensure that we are doing everything possible to keep New Mexicans in this community safe,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said in a news release.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As a result of Richardson<\/st1:city>\u2019s order, State Police have indefinitely increased patrols in and around the town of Columbus<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, located south of Deming. Officers are also working with U.S. Customs agents to form a roadblock in Columbus<\/st1:city> to check every vehicle going into Mexico<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The violence has escalated this week. On Monday, two men were killed and a third was seriously injured when a man with an AK-47 fired on their sport utility vehicle. A fourth man steered the vehicle after the shooting into the Columbus Port of Entry, where he was arrested for entering the United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> illegally with a firearm, according to the Deming Headlight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Earlier today, another shooting left an American who lives and works in Palomas seriously injured, according to KVIA<\/a> in El Paso<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Moments after officials heard gunfire, the man arrived at the border station with multiple gunshot wounds and driving a vehicle that had dozens of bullet holes. He\u2019s being treated at Thomason<\/st1:placename> Hospital<\/st1:placetype> in El Paso<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In addition to increasing state police patrols, Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> is working with U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman<\/a> to ensure there is an appropriate federal response. Bingaman spokeswoman Jude McCartin said her office is in contact with the governor, State Department and Border Patrol.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is determine what steps can be taken on our side of the border,\u201d she said. \u201cIt looks like a pretty serious problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> declared a state of emergency along the Mexican border in 2005 that freed up money for local law enforcement agencies. He also convinced the governor of Chihuahua<\/st1:state> that year to raze a number of buildings in the border village<\/st1:placetype> of Las Chepas<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>, which was being used as a staging point for drug and human smuggling.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 5\/10\/07, 6:55 a.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bingaman and Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a> have written a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice<\/a> to call attention to the violence and ask her to encourage the Mexican government to address the situation. The senators suggested that Rice consider issuing a notice to constituents and travelers in the region.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

They also announced that they sent staffers to Luna<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> to be briefed on the violence and offered to try to help assist local communities in dealing with the situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Bill Richardson has ordered the New Mexico State Police to increase its presence along the Mexican border in response to violence that has left at least six people dead in Palomas, located across the border from Columbus in Luna County. Officials say the violence is part of an escalating drug war on the Mexican […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}