Governor hands out humanitarian awards
Deming, Luna County cited for aid to immigrants
SANTA FE — Coincidence or not, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham presented representatives with the city of Deming and Luna County with the first Governor’s Humanitarian Award for their “selfless, compassionate leadership and ongoing work to provide aid and safe haven to asylum seekers” on Monday — the same day President Trump was in New Mexico for a campaign rally.
Trump, whose crackdown on enforcing immigration policies has sparked controversy, held a rally in Rio Rancho as part of an effort by his reelection campaign to “flip” New Mexico to Republicans.
The Governor’s Office says that it was pure coincidence that her award ceremony landed on the same day Trump was in the state, saying the event was planned before Trump announced his visit to New Mexico.
While Trump’s name wasn’t mentioned during the hour-long ceremony, the governor did refer to the president in a news release Monday.
“Deming and Luna County fed and clothed needy children; Donald Trump locked them in cages,”
she said.
During the event at the governor’s mansion in Santa Fe, Lujan Grisham praised the city and county for their response when facilities in El Paso began to overflow and immigrants were “quite literally being left on your doorstep.”
“Deming and Luna County were set upon by the federal government’s haphazard release strategies without a moment’s notice,” Lujan Grisham said. “They were called upon in a moment of extreme duress, without any capacity to plan or prepare a response, and they not only managed the crisis but excelled.”
According to Chris Brice, who manages the county-operated detention center in Deming, the city and county teamed to accommodate more than 9,000 immigrants, providing them with food, water, shelter and arranging transportation.
Immigrants, most of them from Central America, were housed at a building at the Southwestern New Mexico Fairgrounds and an old World War II hangar at the local airport. The Deming City Council also allocated $1 million to go toward sheltering asylum seekers.
The governor presented Deming Mayor Benny Jasso and Fire Chief Raul Mercado with a shiny Nambé plate recognizing the city’s efforts and gave Brice and Luna County Commissioner Barbara Reedy an identical award — save for the inscription. Lujan-Grisham also presented the city and county with framed proclamations declaring Sept. 16, 2019, as Deming/Luna County Day of Compassion.
New Mexico was the first state to sue the Trump administration for releasing asylum-seeking migrants without assistance to cities, like Deming and Las Cruces. The suit asks a federal judge to order that the “safe release” policy intended to provide immigrants with basic assistance and necessities abandoned by Trump last October be reinstated.