Deb Haaland Outlines Her Vision for New Mexico

Deb Haaland is seeking to make history once again. After becoming the first Native American to serve as U.S. Secretary of the Interior, she is now running to become New Mexico’s first Indigenous governor. In this interview with Línea Abierta, Haaland discusses her plans to expand health care access, address water scarcity and climate change, strengthen behavioral health services, and protect immigrant communities.

Samuel Orozco, Bilingual Radio News Department Director

Debra Haaland, welcome to Bilingual Radio. You are campaigning to become the first Native American woman to hold the office of governor in U.S. history. Tell us what this means for your community and for tribal nations across the country.

Haaland:

Thank you so much for inviting me. First, I want to say, representation matters. It’s important that people feel represented in public office. And that’s why I’ve worked so hard for decades to ensure that Native Americans have a voice through their vote at the ballot box, and why I ran for Congress in 2018. That’s why it’s an honor for me to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor of New Mexico. And I’m going to work as hard as I can to make this a reality.

Orozco

Secretary Haaland, you have insisted that “governors are the first line of defense against the worst policies of the Trump administration.” What are those worst policies, and what is your plan to counteract them?

Haaland:

Yes, exactly. Well, of course, there are people all over my state of New Mexico who are worried, frustrated, and scared about health care. For example, there are people who were paying $500 a month for their health insurance on the marketplace and now they’re paying over $2,000 a month. And there are people who just can’t afford it. So they’re left without coverage. There are people who are worried and scared about the possibility of being dropped from Medicaid and having their SNAP benefits taken away. People who depend on those two social safety net programs to make ends meet. Look, I understand how important health care is, especially for our rural communities throughout New Mexico. And I’m so grateful to our State Legislature and our Governor, who have worked hard to ensure the state fills the gaps. They’ve created a Medicaid trust fund for New Mexicons. But look, we can’t run out of health care. So I’m going to do everything I can to make sure no one gets kicked off Medicaid, that no one loses their SNAP benefits. We’re going to stand up to the administration and ensure that people get the help they need to renew their certification. Despite all the ways they’re overwhelming people with paperwork, we’re going to make sure they can successfully apply for and maintain their coverage and access to healthy food every month.

Orozco

Are there any other policies from the Trump administration that you believe you will be resisting?

Haaland:

Well, look, we’ve received threats about this. About the dismantling of protections for protected public lands here in New Mexico. We New Mexicans love our public lands, so we’re going to fight with every means at our disposal. We have an attorney general who is fighting to get back the funding that the Trump administration has taken from us or tried to take from us. So we’re going to make sure that our attorney general can hire more lawyers to protect what New Mexicans have worked and fought so hard for. And, of course, like in any other state, ICE is a problem here in New Mexico, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep our community safe and free from fear and terror.

Orozco

You just mentioned earlier that you will ensure no one is dropped from Medicaid. What specifically will you do to ensure that you open doctor’s doors for people who end up uninsured?

Haaland:

Yes. There are a couple of things. First, we want to have advisors in the state to help ensure people can renew their certification, submit their applications on time, and meet all federal requirements. Second, we really want to work toward a public option. We want every single person in New Mexico to have health insurance so they don’t have to worry about it month after month. That’s why working toward a public option, one that anyone in New Mexico can enroll in and maintain, will be important to us.

Orozco

Food and basic commodity prices are rising rapidly. You said, “Right now, people can’t afford anything.” What will you do to make food affordable for the population again?

Haaland:

Well, first of all, New Mexico is an agricultural state. We Pueblo Indians, my ancestors, were farming here long before New Mexico was a state. Centuries. For centuries, my ancestors have been farming in New Mexico. I would love for us to do more to promote the “farm-to-table” concept. Exactly. To make sure that farmers can sell their produce to our public schools, our hospitals, places that allow us to support farmers here in New Mexico and ensure that people continue to have access to healthy food. We have farmers markets that accept SNAP. I want to make sure that farmers markets can continue to accept SNAP and that people who benefit from it can continue to shop there. We just need to make sure that things are more accessible for New Mexicans. I want to improve the Child Tax Credit and the Working Family Tax Credit to ensure that New Mexicans have a little more money in their pockets each month. And then, of course, rental prices sometimes exceed what people can earn here. That’s why we want to analyze that situation. There are many landlords who artificially inflate rental costs. That’s why we need more affordable housing. We’re going to work hard to lower those prices so people can afford to live here.

Orozco

Crime is a major problem in New Mexico. You have stated that, to combat violent crime, we must address the root causes, and that “substance use disorder is a root cause.” How do you plan to confront this addiction epidemic? How comprehensive is your plan?

Haaland:

I firmly believe that substance use is a behavioral health issue. It’s a public health issue. That’s why we need more opportunities for people who want to quit drugs to live sober lives. We need opportunities for them to find a path forward. So, building or creating more rehabilitation centers so that people here in New Mexico can get the help they need, and inspiring more students to train in behavioral health and earn degrees to work in that field, will really make a huge difference. You should know that a former governor we had destroyed our behavioral health system, and we’re still struggling to recover from that. We will continue to work hard to make sure that New Mexicans can get the help they need. And yes, addressing the root causes is incredibly important. Sometimes these problems are generational, and we have to find ways to break the cycle, not just through behavioral health and rehabilitation centers, but by making sure that our children who are struggling at home get a quality public education and can get the help they need in school. Exactly. Ensuring we have more counselors and therapists in our public schools to help students overcome some of these problems will, I believe, truly help our students and contribute to breaking those cycles.

Orozco

The United States has declared war on drugs and drug cartels, investing billions of dollars. However, two officials have just leaked information revealing that DEA agents allowed millions of fentanyl pills to reach the streets of New Mexico. How do you interpret this? Isn’t this so-called war on drugs—which supposedly uses a heavy hand against crime and devastates our communities—simply a political maneuver?

Haaland:

Well, it’s terrible. And when you talk about the “war on drugs,” you’re essentially talking about targeting people of color and attacking them, and that’s how our prisons are overflowing with Black men and women. And that’s why it’s truly heartbreaking to see that our federal government has had something to do with, essentially, the substance use of so many people in our state, because it kills people. These are people’s family members, their sons, their daughters. And that’s why I would say we should be smart about these issues, right? Instead of saying we’re waging a war on drugs, let’s be smart about drugs, let’s help people realize they have worth, and let’s help them find ways to get the help they need for their substance use. People can live sober lives. I believe they can. And that’s why I’ll do everything I can to help them get the help they need.

Orozco

A federal appeals court has just given the Trump administration the green light to resume expedited deportations of undocumented immigrants nationwide, not just at the border. Large-scale, rapid removals will now be implemented. This is a key tool in Trump’s mass deportation policy. What would you do to protect due process and ensure fair treatment for immigrants residing in New Mexico?

Haaland:

Well, I would make sure that nonprofit organizations that help people with their legal problems can thrive. We have to make sure our communities are protected. Here in New Mexico, the state legislature passed a bill stating that we will not have ICE detention centers in our state. We want to protect our communities from ICE. That’s why I strongly believe that New Mexico is a place that values ​​its community members, that believes every human being should be treated with dignity and respect. And I will do everything in my power to ensure that those people have legal representation to fight the truly terrible policies that the Trump administration is implementing. You know, the Trump administration has hired immigration judges and overwhelmed them with so many cases that they have no choice but to deport people. There are people who come to this country because they are being persecuted. They fear for their lives. They fear being killed in their home countries. And these are real problems. Our country was founded on the principles of justice, liberty, and all those values. That’s why I will do everything in my power to ensure that we protect our communities from any unfair treatment, and that they have the support they need in terms of legal representation to address these issues that affect them and their lives.

Orozco

New Mexico has always been an arid, dry state, and the situation is worsening due to the current drought. Can New Mexico thrive amidst this scarcity, and what can be done about the chronic drought crisis?

Haaland:

Absolutely. Well, unfortunately, the drought, the water crisis in the high desert, is something that has been brewing for many years. And I strongly believe that we need a long-term water plan to ensure that our communities don’t run out of water, but we also have a responsibility to make sure that any industry that comes to New Mexico is a sustainable industry. We can have industries that consume excessive amounts of water. We really need to reduce our water consumption. We need to get our communities to use clean energy as much as possible. And I believe we can do it. New Mexico has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. And if I am the next governor of New Mexico, I will continue to pursue that goal and ensure that New Mexico can meet its renewable energy targets. So I think that will only help us. And we just need to make sure that we are protecting our most precious natural resource: water.

Orozco

During the previous administration, as Secretary of the Interior, you led a department with a dark history of forced assimilation, child abduction, and the destruction of entire communities against tribal nations. Were you able to address that legacy?

Haaland:

Well, I was really proud to bring that terrible chapter of our nation’s history to light. We had several Native American officials who worked on the two reports we released: the federal reports on the Indian boarding schools. We also put forward a number of recommendations to help our country rectify its role in this terrible history. We were proud that President Biden offered a formal apology to Indigenous communities for the wrongs of our country’s past. And I emphasized strongly that this history—the history of Native Americans—is American history. So, we all need to reflect on how we can always do better, right? How we can do better in our personal lives, treating all people with dignity and respect, and making sure we elect those who care about our communities and will honor the legacy of those who truly tried to do what was right in our country. I feel like we’ve brought this history to the forefront, and it’s up to us to ensure that people remember all of these stories. We have a current administration that is trying to hide the darker aspects of American history, and that’s just not right. So we have an obligation to live up to the positive teachings passed down to us by our ancestors. And that is exactly what I will do.