press releases

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons to demand answers on ICE’s continued operation of Torrance County Detention Facility (TCDF), despite a lapse in contractual authority to detain and care for individuals in ICE custody at TCDF, and renew his...

New Mexico’s senior U.S. senator has renewed his standing call for the closure of the Torrance County Detention Facility, citing “continuing and systemic failures” to ensure humane conditions at the lockup. In a Nov. 7 letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons, Sen. Martin Heinrich also cited the Oct. 31...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, and the Food and Drug Administration, announced that his Stop the Screwworms With Active Readiness and Mitigation (SWARM) Act, legislation he co-led with U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) to combat the New World...

Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation say the office overseeing $5.45 billion in compensation funds for victims of the state’s biggest-ever wildfire continues to delay payments and put up unnecessary barriers, particularly for people who lost their homes. The Nov. 6 letter from U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, along with U.S. Sens....

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) released the following statement after final passage of a funding bill that fails to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that hold down health care costs for New Mexico families: “Let’s be clear: this deal means New Mexicans will pay more for their...

New Mexicans anxious about missing SNAP benefits or federal paychecks may get soon get some relief after a handful of Senate Democrats joined Republicans over the weekend in a deal to reopen the government, though New Mexico’s two U.S. senators did not go along, saying the deal abandons hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans facing sharply higher...

Heinrich & Luján: “We voted ‘no’ today because this ‘deal’ is one that many New Mexicans literally cannot afford — and we will keep working to rein in the affordability crisis that is hurting families in New Mexico and across the country” WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) released the following...

The Bureau of Land Management has reopened a review of federal protections near Chaco Culture National Historical Park, signaling that the Trump Administration may reverse a 20-year withdrawal that blocked new oil and gas leasing across more than 330,000 acres of public land in northwest New Mexico. The agency’s Oct. 30 letter to tribal governments...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research, released the following statement on the New Mexico Legislature’s special...

140 Head Start programs that serve over 65,000 children are at risk of closure WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined 30 Senate Democrats to introduce the Keep Head Start Funded Act of 2025, legislation to keep Head Start programs open during Trump's government shutdown, protecting vital childcare and early learning services for...

In a letter Thursday, New Mexico’s congressional delegation continued exhorting U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to change course on plans to rescind federal protections around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. In 2023, under the Biden Administration, the federal government issued Public Land Order No. 7923, banning further oil and gas...

WASHINGTON— U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and U.S. Representative Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) sent a letter demanding that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Hermit’s Peak Claims Office immediately correct serious failures in the administration of the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon...

Heinrich: "President Trump’s war on affordable, American-made energy, his massive tariff-taxes, and his assault on health care are making things worse, not better." WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a member of the U.S. Joint Economic Committee (JEC),...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), a member of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, and Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) sent a...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), U.S. Representative Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), and U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought demanding that the Trump...

WASHINGTON– U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, joined U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) to introduce the No Nuclear Testing Without Approval Act, legislation to ensure that no president can...

Senate Democrats wrote a Wednesday letter to President Trump seeking clarification on the scope of resumed nuclear testing after Energy Secretary Chris Wright said such testing will not include nuclear explosions. “While Secretary Wright recently sought to provide context to the directive you announced last week, we request that you personally...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) led 14 Senate Democrats in sending a letter to President Trump demanding that his administration reverse course on resuming nuclear...

Pueblos and advocacy groups that spent decades trying to safeguard one of the most sacred sites of Puebloan culture may soon see all that hard work undone, as the Trump administration considers reopening land around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park to oil and gas drilling as well as mining. In a statement to New Mexico Political Report,...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), a member of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, and Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) released the...