Martinez oversaw racist ATF sting

IN THE DEMOCRATIC race for CD1, voters concerned about racism and discrimination emanating from our highest levels of government should question the record of Damon Martinez . ...

For nearly a year, New Mexico In Depth has reported on the ATF sting that occurred in Albuquerque in 2016, an operation that, as documents reveal, then U.S. Attorney Martinez was so pleased about, he wanted to sell it to other cities and prosecutors.

As we now know through NMID reporting, this sting, which supposedly targeted Mexican drug cartel associates, resulted in 103 arrests, 27 percent of whom were black in a city where only 3.3 percent of the population is black and comprise only 5 percent of federal gun and drug crimes charged in New Mexico. This sting also resulted in arrests of people at the lowest end of the rung in the drug world — people fighting to recover, find a way out, survive and keep their families together.

Unfortunately, Martinez does not believe we deserve an explanation for these glaring disparities, despite his clear involvement in what NMID continues to reveal was a deeply (predatory) and racially-targeted operation ... . In a September 2017 interview, Martinez refused to answer questions about his responsibilities with the operation, a trend that continues today as he remains silent in the face of ... calls for investigation.

Also (it) turns out taxpayers footed nearly $1 million for the sting, including salaries for traveling informants upward of $80K with bonuses. In other words, this racist taxpayerfunded million-dollar ATF sting lauded by Martinez didn’t do much of anything for gun and drug crime in Albuquerque. What it did do was criminalize people of color, the poor and homeless, and people with mental health and substance abuse problems, throwing their lives into even more chaos.

New Mexico and our country need (leaders) who (don’t) shy away from calling out racial profiling and (know) that criminalization of vulnerable populations does nothing to reduce crime. Damon Martinez doesn’t fit the bill. RACHAEL LORENZO Albuquerque