By: NM House Republican Leader, Rod Montoya

The failure of the government to secure our southern border is the number one issue for my constituents.

They want policymakers to stop the tidal wave of illegal immigration and illicit drugs flowing into our country. Most counts have the number of new "undocumented" arrivals at over 8 million since President Biden took office. While most immigrants are not dangerous, human traffickers, drug cartels and terrorists are clearly taking advantage of our leaders' failure to protect the border. We have allowed some of the world's most dangerous people and 27 tons of fentanyl to come into our communities over the last four years.

Combine the blatant disregard of our federal immigration laws with New Mexico's catch and release criminal justice policies, and we have created a recipe for disaster. When the prevailing view of society is that the rule of law is meaningless, our society will quickly become unraveled. "Progressive" Democrats' soft on crime and open border policies are a dereliction of duty to tax-paying, law-abiding citizens!

I often get asked, "What can New Mexico do to stop the flood of dangerous drugs and dangerous people into our country?" Simple – We must admit that we have a problem and then we need to take bold action to end it.

While the federal government has the primary responsibility of securing our borders, New Mexico isn't free of responsibility when it comes to protecting New Mexicans from the ongoing border crisis. In fact, I believe we have waited long enough for the Biden Administration to address this threat and it's time for New Mexico to take action.

First, we need to place the National Guard at the border to do the job that Washington continues to neglect. The Democrat Governor of Arizona and the Republican Governor of Texas have already done this, and it's time for Governor Lujan Grisham to realize our citizens deserve to be protected as well.

Next, we should require law enforcement officials to determine the immigration status of anyone they arrest for criminal activity and mandate law enforcement agencies report the illegal status of criminals to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Four New Mexico communities have declared themselves as "sanctuary cities." The Legislature needs to pass a law forbidding any state agency, county, or municipality from protecting undocumented people who are arrested for committing a crime from deportation or prosecution. New Mexico has one of the worst crime problems in the nation. Why are mayors and city councilors ignoring public safety even though our citizens are demanding a change?

We need to stop issuing driver's licenses to people who are "undocumented." The current practice of issuing driver's licenses to people who are in New Mexico illegally only legitimizes the breakdown of our border.

In the upcoming special session, House Republicans will be introducing the above mentioned ideas that finally address border security and public safety. In addition, we will introduce a bill that creates guidelines for the judiciary to limit the scope of catch and release for violent criminals and drug traffickers.

Our children and grandchildren will ultimately bear the brunt of the Legislature's and Governor's failure to act. We can protect our communities; however, we must be willing to protect our nation's borders, eliminate incentives that encourage illegal immigration, and punish criminals when they break the law.

Make no mistake, if we fail to take the steps necessary to end the public safety crisis, we will have no else to blame than ourselves for allowing this problem to go unchecked.