Native Vote 2026
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Greater resources for police, expansion of mental health treatment, and reform to New Mexico’s child welfare system make up the core of the public safety plan released Thursday by Deb Haaland.
Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), a Democratic Party candidate for governor in New Mexico, reached into her recent experience as U.S. Secretary of the Interior to highlight why her plans are practical.
“I oversaw multiple law enforcement agencies comprising nearly 3,000 sworn officers and established the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples unit,” she said. “I was proud to support the American Rescue Plan, which provided tens of billions of dollars to police, law enforcement, and related programs to help police departments across New Mexico, including keeping officers on the job during the pandemic.”
Haaland’s primary opponent, Sam Bregman, is a local district attorney who said his office has a dedicated staff member to advise investigations on cases involving violence against Native Americans. These programs have state, local, and federal support from initiatives that were driven during Haaland’s time in the federal government at Interior and in Congress.
“I’ve been working thoroughly on making sure that we’re working with all our tribes throughout the entire state on communicating what we believe are organized crime routes and other law enforcement issues that tribes are facing,” Bregman told Native News Online. “Because we all know crime knows no borders.”
Bregman released details of his public safety agenda earlier in his campaign. It shares similarities with Haaland’s plan in areas such as officer retention and pay raises for crisis support teams that respond to mental health crises.
Thursday in Albuquerque, Haaland spoke outside a city park across the street from a former mental health treatment center that sat empty for years and is currently under construction to house a STEM charter public school.
Her plan to support New Mexico children who enter the juvenile criminal system is to prioritize rehabilitation.
“We can’t arrest our way out of this problem. It has to start somewhere. We need to make sure our children have opportunities, that they have care, that the community is supporting them in every way,” Haaland said. “I really would like to take an approach of compassion and behavioral health — an opportunity for those children.”
Haaland said she would create a statewide Office of Community Safety, modeled after one in Albuquerque, that sends crisis intervention specialists to certain public safety calls — at times assisting police and at other times responding without law enforcement officers present.
“The state will deploy and coordinate social workers, counselors, and behavioral health professionals to respond to calls that aren’t crimes,” she said. “So police can focus on traditional police work. For example, being homeless is not a crime. Being in a mental health crisis is not a crime.”
Her plan also extends to state intervention and protections related to current federal policing standards, including limits on how Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates in New Mexico.
“I will ban ICE agents from wearing masks on the job,” she said. “I will restrict ICE from operating within 500 yards of schools, courthouses, or state government buildings. Churches or religious institutions, health clinics, public parks, and significant cultural sites will also be off-limits.”
She also said that other states would not be allowed to deploy their National Guard to New Mexico.
“No one will be above the law, including a president. The rich and the powerful will not be exempt. We will have one justice system for everyone,” Haaland proclaimed.
Ahead of the public safety announcement, Haaland responded to the shakeup at the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency that oversees ICE, which will be under new leadership by April 1. After President Donald Trump announced that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem will be out at the federal agency, he nominated Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a Cherokee Nation citizen who, if approved by the Senate, would become the second Native American to lead a U.S. Cabinet department as secretary.
Haaland was the first and has experience working with Mullin. However, she doesn’t see him offering much difference in direction from Trump’s current immigration enforcement policies.
“Chaos and violence are features of this administration — no matter who is running the agency, I am not confident that ICE or the administration’s cruelty will change,” she said.
Haaland also directly addressed her position on revamped investigations by state and congressional leaders into Jeffrey Epstein’s time in New Mexico at Zorro Ranch. Several weeks ago, Haaland was identified as a passenger on a 2014 flight chartered by Epstein for Gary King, a candidate for governor at the time. Haaland, then a lieutenant governor candidate, said she never met Epstein, did not know he had chartered the flight, and has not been accused or proven to have committed any wrongdoing in the matter.
“I will demand a full account of the crimes and abuses committed by Jeffrey Epstein and the men who enabled him,” Haaland said Thursday. “Any person who was harmed will see justice. This is what this moment demands.”
