Otero County leaders concerned about checkpoint closures: ‘We’re pleading for help’

An Otero County Commissioner is frustrated the state of New Mexico has not responded to the County’s emergency declaration this month.

“We have yet to receive a call from the office of governor,” said Commissioner Couy Griffin, chairman of the Otero County Commission.

Earlier this month, the County declared a state of emergency after weeks of U.S. Border Patrol highway checkpoint closures.

“These checkpoints weren’t put in by accident,” Griffin said. “They were put in to control illegal activity, whether that be immigration or the narcotics.”

As ABC-7 has reported, immigration authorities closed highway checkpoints in March because more U.S. Border Patrol Agents were needed at the border to help process the record numbers of asylum seekers entering the U.S.

“The federal government and Congress have a responsibility to do their work and they aren’t,” said Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham in a Las Cruces news conference last week. “In the meantime, we’re stepping up and solving problems.”

Lujan Grisham said it’s the federal government’s responsibility to staff highway checkpoints.

“As governor, I have reached out to Homeland Security,” Lujan Grisham told reporters. “They are promising me that more Border Patrol agents are on their way. I have yet to see that.”

Back in February, the governor decided to remove the National Guard troops from the border.

“It’s such a travesty to see our current governor come in and retract the guard that could be assisting the Border Patrol,” Commissioner Griffin said.

“They cannot engage in immigration issues; they can’t detain, they can’t process,” Governor Lujan Grisham said in the news conference. “I would never withhold, as your governor, a service or support, whether it’s military nature or not that can make a difference here.”

Commissioner Griffin implied the County could consider suing the state. “We’re hoping to possibly move forward with some type of litigation toward the state,” Griffin said. “We only threaten with litigation just to try to get help.”

“To be clear, Border Patrol checkpoints are run by the federal government, not the state,” said a governor’s office spokeswoman in a statement. “Closing those checkpoints was a federal decision as they moved federal agents to processing centers to process asylum seekers.

The governor’s office recommends that the county reach out to the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

“If Otero County feels they need assistance from the state, county officials are absolutely free to reach out to the state’s Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. As of commissioners approving this item, that had not happened. Secretary Lindsey and her agency are and have been extremely available in assisting local agencies in the most appropriate way possible.​”