New Mexico State Police raid shelters in Doña Ana and Luna counties

New Mexico State Police Find 33 Warehouses in Doña Ana and Luna Counties

A recent crackdown by New Mexico State Police, along with other agencies, against human smuggling rings resulted in more than a dozen arrests, 91 rescued migrants and the discovery of 33 hideouts in Doña Ana and Luna counties, officials said.

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“Operation Disruption” was designed to disrupt the activities of drug cartels and human trafficking groups in southern New Mexico counties along the state’s border with Mexico, the governor’s office said.

The New Mexico desert west of El Paso, Texas, is a smuggling hot zone where waves of heat-related deaths have occurred after migrants get lost. People smuggled across the border in New Mexico are often brought to stash houses in El Paso.

During the operation, nine people were found in the desert, including a woman who is now recovering from a life-or-death situation, New Mexico authorities said.

Doña Ana County lies to the north and west of El Paso. Luna County, whose capital is Deming, lies to the west of Doña Ana County.

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Operation Disruption lasted 12 days in August and resulted in 16 arrests between Aug. 17 and Aug. 29, along with 735 traffic stops, the identification of 33 staging areas and the rescue of 91 migrants, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office said in a news release.

“Operation Disruption is a clear demonstration of our commitment to saving lives and protecting the most vulnerable among us,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “Thanks to the tireless efforts of our law enforcement partners, we have made our communities safer and sent a strong message to those who seek to exploit others.

“Let this be a warning to those who traffic in human lives: New Mexico will not tolerate this reprehensible criminal behavior,” the governor said. “We are coming for you, and when we find you, we will shut down your illegal operation and put you in jail.”

The New Mexico State Police worked with the New Mexico Organized Crime Commission, the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office, the Las Cruces Police Department, the Bureau of Land Management, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and authorities in Mexico.

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The New Mexico Organized Crime Commission was created in the 1970s, but has rarely been enforced by the state’s governors since then, the governor’s office said.

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In May 2023, Lujan Grisham re-established the commission to bring together the expertise of law enforcement and the justice system as a tool to take “a cutting-edge approach” to studying public safety issues and combating drug cartels and other organized crime.

The commission is made up of seven members appointed by the governor and approved by the state Senate. The commission is chaired by Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman.