Las Cruces City Rep. proposes resolution against border wall

Las Cruces Mayor Pro Tem and City Representative Greg Smith has proposed a resolution against President Trump’s border wall.

Representative Smith is asking his fellow councilors to vote on a measure that formally states their opposition against the border wall.

During a city council meeting Monday, Smith introduced the statement of opposition to the border wall. Smith tells ABC-7 he believes the wall could greatly hurt the economy in Las Cruces, as New Mexico and Mexico are trade partners.

“New Mexico is not doing all that great, generally. But Las Cruces, Santa Teresa, our part of the state, are actually doing pretty well and a lot of that is dependent on our trade and our exchanges with Mexico,” Smith said.

The City Rep further states, “So what’s happening in Santa Teresa, San Geronimo, those kinds of exchanges across the border right there, that sort of thing is very important to us and the wall itself might not impact that, but the fact that it’s going to be one way or another, we’re going to be the ones paying for it. Either through tariffs or other tax oppositions that the expectation that Mexico is somehow going to pay for it just, I don’t know how else to say that, but it’s just not based on reality.”

Smith said if Santa Teresa suffers as a result of the border wall, the economic effect will trickle down to Las Cruces, which has strong ties with businesses in Santa Teresa.

Smith says because the border wall is technically out of the city’s jurisdiction, it is limited in what it can do. He says the resolution can make a small difference, because it includes provisions where they can share their opposition with President Trump, Governor Susana Martinez, the Consul General in El Paso and lawmakers in Washington, D.C and New Mexico.

“I believe there’s going to be a lot of conversation and perhaps a few more letters and communication along the same line. I would expect that pretty close to everybody is on the border or in this municipality is going to be impacted by this, and is probably going to share something similar very shortly,” Smith said.

Smith says the border wall affects all city reps, but can’t say how they’d vote on a resolution. The resolution will be voted on later this month.