New Mexico
Walling Off New Mexico: It's Now Really A Thing | Colorado Pols
3 Comments- by: Colorado Pols
As Albuquerque’s KRQE-TV reports, what was once a running joke with its origin in various flubs committed by Republican politicians attempting to address immigration on the southern U.S. border, sometimes forgetting or misstating the state of New Mexico’s status as a U.S. state, now appears to be a highly questionable reality as the state of Texas installs razor wire along a portion of its border with the Land of Enchantment:
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Wednesday responded to the Texas National Guard installing razor wire along the Rio Grande facing New Mexico.
KRQE’s sister station, KTSM, captured video showing troops putting up concertina wire and fencing on the riverbank in the El Paso, Texas, area Tuesday afternoon. The expansion came three days after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott posted on X that the state would triple its razor-wire border barriers to “deny illegal entry into our state and our country.”
Gov. Lujan Grisham released the following statement about Texas’ actions:
Gov. Abbott seems to be pushing to make Texas its own country without regard for his neighbors or the fact that Texas is already part of a great nation—the United States. [Pols emphasis] If he doesn’t think that New Mexico is important to the overall well-being of Texas, then he must be forgetting about the Permian Basin and the oil industry that straddles our two states. I don’t see him laying concertina wire there.
Gov. Abbott’s latest political stunt at the border will have no meaningful impact on our nation’s broken immigration system. Only Congress can fix our federal immigration laws, and I implore Republicans in Congress to stop holding up the carefully negotiated, bipartisan agreement they are deliberately stalling in Washington at the expense of our entire nation.
Back in 2019, veteran readers will recall, now ex-President Donald Trump told supporters “We’re building a wall on the border of New Mexico and we’re building a wall in Colorado,” later claiming this was a reference to the supposed benefits to Colorado of his border wall instead of doing what everyone else would do and simply admitting he misspoke–much the same way the non-word “covfefe” became a word. A year before that, GOP gubernatorial loser Walker Stapleton ran a head-scratching ad that seemed to suggest the same thing. In both of these cases, we were able to laugh in the end because of course nobody would ever put up a wall between the borders of two U.S. states. Right?
After sending some 75,000 migrants to Colorado on busses among hundreds of thousands dispersed throughout the country as partisan political vengeance, Texas under Gov. Greg Abbott is building the wall against New Mexico that used to be the punchline of a late-night TV joke. It’s consistent with Abbott’s habit of pushing the boundaries of state power, defying any federal authority that tells him no including the U.S. Supreme Court. And, we’ll be the ones to say it, it’s a telling sign that citizenship is not what Abbott is worried about so much as ethnicity.
As of today, nobody can ever laugh the idea off again. The wall against New Mexico is no longer a bad joke.
Leapfrog released its 2026 spring hospital safety grades.
Grades are assigned based on overall performance, including patient safety.
The Leapfrog Group’s goal is to publicly report patient safety and quality information for the benefit of consumers, purchasers, and referring physicians as they make decisions about where to seek care and where to direct patients,” the company stated on its website.
Here’s how your local hospitals performed.
MountainView Regional Medical Center – A
Leapfrog gave MountainView an “A.”
“Being the only hospital in Doña Ana County to earn an ‘A’ from The Leapfrog Group speaks to the high standards our team sets – and meets – every day,” said MountainView CEO Patrick Shannon. “This achievement reflects the dedication of our physicians, nurses, and employees to deliver the safest care possible for our community.”
“An ‘A’ Grade is a strong sign that MountainView is deeply committed to protecting patients from harm,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We commend the leadership, Board, clinicians, staff and volunteers for the role each played in earning this distinction.”
The hospital performed better than average in several areas including low infection rates, addressing safety problems, and ICU care. The hospital received below average performances ratings in surgical site infections post colon surgery, communication about medicine and discharge, communication with doctors and nurses and nursing and bedside care for patients.
Memorial Medical Center – B
Memorial Medical Center received a “B” grade from Leapfrog.
The hospital performed well in effective leadership, reduction and prevention of infections and addressing safety problems.
The hospital received below average ratings for kidney injury after surgery, serious breathing problems, harmful events, communication about medicine and discharge, and communication with doctors and nurses.
Not rated by Leapfrog were Three Crosses Regional Hospital.
Nearby top rated hospitals
Leapfrog gave an A to William Beaumont Army Medical Center and Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso. Las Palmas Medical Center in El Paso received a B.
How did other New Mexico hospitals perform?
A recipients were:
- CHRISTUS Southern New Mexico in Alamogordo
B recipients were:
- Lovelace Women’s Hospital in Albuquerque
C recipients were:
- Carlsbad Medical Center in Carlsbad
- CHRISTUS St. Vincent in Santa FE
- Eastern New Mexico Medical Center in Roswell
- Lovelace Medical Center-Downtown in Albuquerque
- Lovelace Regional Hospital in Roswell
- Lovelace Westside Hospital in Albuquerque
- University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque
D recipients were:
- San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington
- UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center in Rio Rancho
Explore the full survey results at https://www.hospitalsafetygrade.org/.
Jessica Onsurez is editor of the Las Cruces Sun-News. Reach her by email at jonsurez@usatodayco.com.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) — The Social Security Office released the most popular baby names for 2025 on Thursday. And here in New Mexico, we saw some familiar names top the charts once again.
Coming in at No. 1 for girls is Mia, and as for the boys, Noah ranks No. 1. That’s no change from 2024 when Mia and Noah also led the pack, both coming in at No 1. For 2025, there were a total of 66 babies named Mia and 115 babies named Noah, while in 2024, there were 81 Mias and 105 Noahs.
What do the names mean? Online sources list a few different interpretations for Mia, but one common association is with the Italian word “mia,” which means “mine.” As for Noah, the name is most commonly associated with the prominent bible figure. It’s thought to mean “rest,” or “comfort.”
Here’s a look at some of the other top baby names in New Mexico for 2025.
- Girls:
- Olivia (65 total)
- Sophia (65 total)
- Sofia (60 total)
- Camila (59 total)
- Eliana (57 total)
- Isabella (56 total)
- Amelia (53 total)
- Aria (45 total)
- Aurora (45 total)
- Boys:
- Liam (109 total)
- Mateo (99 total)
- Elijah (76 total)
- Santiago (70 total)
- Sebastian (69 total)
- Ezra (67 total)
- Elias (66 total)
- Ezekiel (66 total)
- Levi (69 total)
Nationally, Olivia and Liam are the most popular baby names, and have been for the past seven years, according to the Social Security Administration. As for the fastest-rising names, Klarity jumped nearly 1,400 spots on the girls’ list, and Kasai jumped 1,108 for boy names.
Other names rising in popularity for boys include Atlas, Adriel, Emiliano, Arthur, and Archer. On the girls’ list, Ailany, Sienna, Amara, and Georgia are becoming more popular.
You can find the full list by state online.
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