Republican Party of New Mexico
08/19/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/19/2026 13:47
MARKER: AS ICE HUNTS DOWN CRIMINALS IN NEW MEXICO JAILS, DEMOCRATS’ SANCTUARY POLICIES KEEP THEM PROTECTED
|
IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 19, 2026 New Mexico's murder rate remains almost three times the national rate even as America hits a 75-year low-because Santa Fe Democrats choose criminals over citizens ROSWELL, N.M. - While violent crime across America has plunged to levels not seen since the 1950's, New Mexico families are being left behind by a Democrat establishment more interested in protecting criminal aliens than protecting them. According to newly reported federal court records, ICE agents have had to hunt down at least 11 criminal aliens hiding inside New Mexico's own jails since September: six at Bernalillo County's Metropolitan Detention Center, four in Santa Fe County, and one in Rio Arriba County. Every single one had already been deported from the United States before-several multiple times-for crimes including drug trafficking and child abuse. Federal agents found them not because New Mexico authorities helped, but because sanctuary policies forced ICE to go around them, sometimes searching public jail rosters like private citizens instead of law enforcement partners. This is what New Mexico Democrats call "public safety." "MDC does not permit federal agencies access to MDC inmate records systems," a Bernalillo County spokesman confirmed, practically boasting about a policy that walls off information from the very agents trying to remove violent, previously-deported criminals from our communities. The numbers tell the real story: The national homicide rate has fallen to approximately 4.2 per 100,000-the lowest in roughly 75 years, tying levels last seen in the mid-1950s, according to FBI data showing a historic drop in violent crime in 2025 that has continued into 2026. New Mexico's murder rate remains stuck between 10.5 and 12.0 per 100,000-almost three times the national rate, and consistently ranked among the very highest in the nation, according to FBI and CDC figures. "President Trump's deportation policies are delivering the safest America in 75 years-everywhere, that is, except corrupt sanctuary states New Mexico," said U.S. Senate Candidate Larry Marker. "Why? Because Ben Ray Luján and the Democrat elite who run this state have built a system that protects criminal aliens instead of the families they victimize. Why should federal law enforcement be forced to quietly comb through public jail rosters? Why do they care more about New Mexicans' lives than our own so-called leaders do?" "Ben Ray Luján has spent his career in Washington while New Mexico's murder rate stayed near the top of the nation," Marker continued. "New Mexicans deserve leaders who side with victims, not with a sanctuary system that makes it harder to find killers, cartel members, traffickers, and child abusers hiding in plain sight." Marker is calling on Luján and every Democrat officeholder in New Mexico to publicly state whether they support county policies that block cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and to explain why New Mexico families should accept a murder rate almost three times the national average while the rest of America enjoys the safest streets in three generations. "We don't have to live this way," Marker concluded. "The rest of the country doesn't live this way. New Mexicans are suffering under the yoke of corrupt leadership, and it needs to end." ### |
Republican Party of New Mexico published this content on August 19, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on August 19, 2026 at 19:47 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]