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© 2024 NEW MEXICO NEWS SERVICES  6/23/25

The great land rush of 2025

By Sherry Robinson

All She Wrote

     We now know which public lands in New Mexico that Congressional Republicans might sell, and it’s quite a list -- 61 properties in 20 counties. Authors of the budget reconciliation bill have been secretive, but Sen. Martin Heinrich recently extracted some specifics.

     Heinrich, a Democrat who is the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, released the list on June 18, saying the bill mandates the unprecedented sale of two to three million acres.

     We’ve been having this public lands debate for years. Sometimes discussion swings to the left, sometimes to the right, but it’s never resolved. 

     In 2012 Utah’s governor demanded that 20 million acres of federal land be transferred to his state. A few other western states (but not New Mexico) looked into it. The argument was that states could better manage these lands than federal agencies. 

     The reality? States have nowhere near the personnel and funding to take this on and would have to sell or lease some land to finance management of what remained. In 2014 Heinrich, then the state’s junior senator, predicted that states would sell the best, most desirable lands and “taxpayers would be saddled with the costs of overseeing the rest.” And the public would find more locked gates and the end of access to prized hunting, fishing and hiking areas.

     Others observed that state ownership could backfire, as states raised fees for grazing and recreation and jacked up royalties for mining and energy development.

     However, Paul Gessing, of the conservative Rio Grande Foundation, countered that in the previous two years the federal government, with only a signature by President Obama, had placed more than 783,000 acres of New Mexico land in two monuments – the Rio Grande del Norte and Organ Mountain. 

     President Trump during his first term tried to shrink some national monuments, including those two, provoking an outcry in Las Cruces and northern New Mexico. 

     “After many protests and photos of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on horseback, what happened is: Not much,” I wrote in 2017. “The blowback was hotter than Zinke and the administration anticipated; public comments, overwhelmingly in support, topped 2.3 million.”

     In 2022, during the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon fire, the right-wing ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) renewed the push for state ownership, arguing in the Albuquerque Journal that federal land managers had been poor stewards, and millions of acres were at high risk for wildfire. A northern New Mexico landowner wrote in response that the Virginia-based group should butt out of New Mexico land policy.

     The poor-stewardship argument is an old one. A representative of Trout Unlimited has argued that the same people demanding state ownership have for years cut funding to land agencies, making it impossible for them to do necessary preventive maintenance. 

     In 2022, the governor joined a Biden administration initiative to conserve 30% of lands and waters by 2030. But 15 counties hollered “land grab” and passed resolutions in opposition. Never fear. The so-called 30x30 initiative morphed into a committee embedded in state bureaucracy and likely won’t be heard from again.

     Now we’re looking at the sale of public lands. 

     In the House, our own Rep. Gabe Vasquez joined with former Interior Secretary and now Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana to found the Bipartisan Public Lands Caucus. They removed language from the bill that would have placed a half million acres on the block.

     The Senate version, however, would unload up to 3.3 million acres of public lands; an amendment adds a whopping 258 million acres in the next five years, according to outdoor journalist Wes Siler. And the process sounds something like the Oklahoma land rush of 1889 with no hearings, no debate, no public input.

     In New Mexico, about 6.5 million acres of U.S. Forest Service land and 7.8 million acres of BLM land could be eligible for sale. This doesn’t include national parks, monuments, historic sites, wildlife refuges or fish hatcheries, according to Source New Mexico. 

     How about grazing land? Nobody knows, and the bill’s authors aren’t saying.

If this bill is so good for us, why can’t its sponsors roll it out of the garage and let us kick the tires? What we don’t know is as scary as what we do know. It amounts to a big experiment.

     So I have a modest proposal. Utah wants to sell federal land within its borders. Why not let them? They can be a pilot project for federal land sales, and we can see how it works out.  

© 2024 NEW MEXICO NEWS SERVICES  6/16/25

Who’s going to milk your cows?

By Sherry Robinson

All She Wrote

     When the Dairy Producers of New Mexico meet in Ruidoso this week, the most important topic won’t be on the agenda. The conversations in the hallway and on the golf course will be about labor in a time of ICE raids.

     After federal agents crippled a Lea County dairy, an industry newsletter warned, “Your operation is next.”

     Dairy is one of New Mexico’s success stories. Our 182 dairy farms are nearly all family owned. They have made us 9th in the nation for milk production and 4thfor cheese production, according to NMSU. The industry’s direct and indirect economic impact is $4.45 billion.

     However, nationally 51% of dairy workers are immigrants. New Mexico’s reliance is probably higher.

     On June 4 masked, rifle-toting ICE agents raided Outlook Dairy Farms in Lovington, arrested 11 workers for fake documents, and forced owner Isaak Bos to fire another 24 on the spot.

     “Losing 35 out of 55 workers at that particular facility meant milk production had effectively ceased,” the Albuquerque Journal reported, “with all available hands — including nonfarm staff, family members and some high school students on summer break — focused on caring for the livestock until more workers could be found.”

     Bos said: “We’re barely able to keep going. And the next problem is going to be the labor I have left, pushing it to the limit.”

     The Bullvine, an online newsletter by and for dairy professionals, wrote: “The Lovington raid isn’t just another enforcement action; it’s a stark preview of what happens when immigration policy meets the reality of who actually milks America’s cows.

     “Outlook Dairy Farms in Lovington went from operating normally to crisis mode in one morning… (A)gents didn’t just arrest workers—they dismantled an entire operation that depends on precise timing and experienced hands.

     “But here’s the kicker that should terrify every dairy producer: this wasn’t random enforcement. The raid followed an employment audit conducted months earlier, proving federal agents are systematically targeting agricultural operations with surgical precision.”

     Dairy farmers face a Catch-22: They can’t find workers, but the H-2A temporary worker visa is designed for seasonal work, and cows must be milked 365 days a year. Also, the government’s E-Verify system, which employers use to check employee paperwork, is broken, say ICE agents. 

     “So, let’s get this straight,” writes The Bullvine’s managing editor, Karen Hunt.”You’re legally required to verify employment eligibility using systems that federal enforcement admits don’t work, yet you face severe penalties when those systems fail…

     “The choice facing every dairy producer is simple: Who’s going to milk your cows, and what will it cost when there’s nobody left?”

     Technology can help, but it’s not the answer. “Dairy operations require experienced workers who can identify health issues, handle birthing complications, and manage the countless variables that arise with living animals,” says Hunt. 

     What happens after ICE has hollowed out the industry? The nation would lose 7,000 dairy farms, and milk prices would nearly double, predicts The Bullvine. “For an industry already operating on razor-thin margins, these aren’t just statistics—they’re operational death sentences.”

     To reach the targeted 3,000 daily arrests set by the Trump administration, agriculture is ripe for plucking. (So are the state’s tourism and hospitality industries.) Do they chase ag workers until the food supply fails?

     Congress is still dithering on the only remedy – the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. Meanwhile, countries like New Zealand, The Netherlands and Canada run worker programs that ensure reliable labor pools with no enforcement disruptions.

     Lately, the president observed: “Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace… We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”

     Next he ordered a pause in arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels, only to reverse the order a few days later.

     Here’s what’s troubling, aside from the fear and panic spreading through communities. Zoom out with me for the 30,000-foot view. Pull thousands of people out of the economy, and they’re not buying groceries or clothing or furniture, they’re not making car payments, and they’re not paying rent or buying houses. The logical end is grim. 

     “The Lovington raid isn’t just one farm’s struggle—it’s a preview of American agriculture’s future under current policies,” writes Hunt. “We’ve built a food system that depends on immigrant labor while criminalizing their presence. That’s not sustainable economics; it’s systematic dysfunction.”