近距离内射合集

DEMING 鈥� Discussions among ranchers in southern Luna County, the Office of the State Engineer and the Department of Homeland Security continue over supplying water for border wall construction from the Columbus area west into the Bootheel.

Earlier this month, ranchers expressed alarm and publicly called on New Mexico鈥檚 water  enforcement agency to intervene as contractors hired by Customs and Border Protection began drilling water wells without permits or hydrological studies on lands commandeered last year by the Trump administration for building border wall segments, roads and other security features.

U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., raised the issue Wednesday in a floor speech at the House of Representatives in Washington.

鈥淲ater is our life and it鈥檚 our economy,鈥� he said . 鈥淚n 1902, the federal government recognized this harsh reality, passing the Reclamation Act to make arid Western lands agriculturally productive.鈥�

, enacted by President Theodore Roosevelt, funded irrigation systems in Western states with funding from sales of public lands and established the agency now known as the Bureau of Reclamation.

The law and court precedent also grant states broad authority to regulate their water resources, even when it comes to federal water projects. But in this case, the wells are being drilled on a 60-foot strip of land that has been under military control since President Donald Trump鈥檚 January 2025 emergency declaration at the border.

CBP has stated that the wells are intended to supply water to support construction work at the border but has released few details about the number of wells planned, how much water it plans to produce, or why it is breaking with its past practice of purchasing water for the projects. The agency did not respond to queries for this report. 

鈥淟una County ranchers and farmers 鈥� are seeing droves of unauthorized wells being drilled by the federal government right now, right by their pastures, stealing their water 鈥� and it has got to stop,鈥� Vasquez said.

Russell Johnson, president of the Luna County Farm and Livestock Bureau and a local rancher, said Thursday he had personally observed four new wells along the strip. Ranchers have also documented rapidly assembled pumping facilities sufficient for drawing hundreds of gallons per minute from the Mimbres and Hachita basins.

鈥淚 have heard from multiple people that they have done more drilling and are actively pumping in the Bootheel,鈥� Johnson said.

Ranchers have been frustrated by the Office of the State Engineer鈥檚 inability to halt the drilling and have expressed alarm over unknown effects from high-volume water pumping from aquifers that sustain their homes and desert agriculture.

For its part, the OSE has stated it cannot block the activity in the declared National Defense Area at the border and that litigation could drag on for years with uncertain outcomes. It advocated for a negotiated resolution.

Vasquez鈥檚 office said the congressman鈥檚 staff had reached out to Homeland Security and the OSE to discuss solutions. Deputy State Engineer Tanya Trujillo said, 鈥淥ur efforts are continuing but we do not have any updates at this time.鈥�

Johnson said the meetings, with the latest set for Thursday, have contemplated a combination of pumping with purchased water to ease pressure on local resources, but the discussions were ongoing.

Algernon 顿鈥橝尘尘补蝉蝉补 is the Journal鈥檚 southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.