Private Prison Demands New Mexico and Feds Find 300 More Prisoners in 60 Days or It Will Close

The nation’s second-largest private prison corporation is holding New Mexico politicians hostage by threatening to close unless the state or federal authorities find 300 more prisoners to be warehoused there, according to local news reports.

“The company that has operated a private prison in Estancia for nearly three decades has announced it will close the Torrance County Detention Facility and lay off more than 200 employees unless it can find 300 state or federal inmates to fill empty beds within the next 60 days,” the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper reported last week.

A New Progressive Voice From New Mexico Joins the Senate

When Martin Heinrich was in seventh grade, he learned a lesson about labor relations. His mother worked in a non-union auto-supply factory; when management informed the workers that their hours were going to shift from five days a week to six, there wasn’t much they could do. When they then moved to seven days a week—the new schedule was three weeks on and one week off—there still wasn’t much the workforce could do in response. They were living in the tiny town of Cole Camp, Missouri, and Missouri was, his parents knew, hardly over-protective of workers’ rights. Martin’s mom lost her weekends, and her son ended up having to keep order in the house, cooking and cleaning for the rest of the family.

After Decades of Uranium Mining, Navajo Nation Struggles With Devastating Legacy of Contamination

New Mexico’s long history of uranium mining on Native American lands provides fuel for the front end of the nuclear industry and stores much of the mine tailings and radioactive waste from nuclear weapons and power plants. We look at the devastating impact uranium mining continues to have on Native lands with Leona Morgan of Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining, a group dedicated to protecting the water, air, land and health of communities in areas impacted by uranium mines. We’re also joined by Jay Coghlan of Nuclear Watch New Mexico and former Los Alamos National Laboratory investigator Chuck Montaño.

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Source: Democracy Now!
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Susana Martinez, New Mexico Governor, Admits Paternal Grandparents Were Undocumented Immigrants

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who has drawn national attention and criticism from immigrant groups for trying to stop undocumented immigrants from getting driver's licenses, has acknowledged her paternal grandparents came to the U.S. undocumented.

"I know they arrived without documents, especially my father's father," the Republican said Wednesday in an interview in Spanish with KLUZ-TV, the Albuquerque Univision affiliate.

Reports about Martinez's grandfather coming across the border undocumented have surfaced numerous times over the past few years. The governor's office has largely dodged directly answering questions about the issue, saying Martinez was unsure of his status since he abandoned the family when her father was young.

Her comments Wednesday appeared to be the first time she has answered the question definitively.

Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell confirmed the news Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press, saying media reports citing U.S. Census data from 1930 showed Martinez's grandparents entered the country undocumented.