Snatched pets and livestock deaths blamed on wolves raise alarms in rural New Mexico
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It's not just an issue in rural New Mexico, as officials in parts of Oregon and Northern California say gray wolves — the larger, more common cousins of Mexican gray wolves — seem brazen and more livestock is turning up dead. Two California counties have declared emergencies in recent weeks and the sheriff in another recently requested the help of state wildlife officials.
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Mexican wolves are the smallest subspecies of gray wolf in North America. Ranchers have been at odds with efforts to reintroduce them since the first release in the late 1990s. Despite programs for reimbursing losses, ranchers say wolves pose a threat to their way of life, which is already challenged by prolonged drought and rising prices.
Environmentalists argue that Mexican gray wolves should have a place in the Southwest, often criticizing the US Fish and Wildlife Service for not releasing more captive wolves to ensure genetic diversity among the wild population. They contend there is no incident in recorded history of a Mexican wolf attacking or injuring a person.
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The latest survey of Mexican wolves showed there were at least 286 in Arizona and New Mexico, marking the ninth straight year of population growth. Federal wildlife managers reported 100 livestock kills in 2024, saying that number is decreasing.
Wildlife managers conducted 290 successful hazing operations last year to scare wolves away from rural homes and livestock, and the Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday that the agency is committed to doing what it can to minimize wolf-livestock conflict and reduce economic effects on ranchers.
'Staff phone numbers have been shared with livestock producers across the recovery area, and we are in contact with producers almost daily in response to their requests for information and/or management response,' said Aislinn Maestas, a spokesperson for the agency.
In the proposed resolution, Catron County states that the culture and customs of residents have been compromised by the Mexican wolf reintroduction program. It would request emergency financial aid from the state and asks for the governor to order the New Mexico National Guard into service to support county authorities as needed.
In Oregon, ranchers in Lake County — home to some of that state's largest cattle operations — said they were forced to hire extra workers to patrol their herds around the clock because of issues with gray wolves there. Some bought night vision goggles to help with the task. That county commission declared a public safety and livestock emergency in February, and asked the governor to help with removing a collared wolf thought to be behind several livestock kills. Wildlife managers ended up killing the wolf after nonlethal efforts failed.
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In California, Sierra County declared an emergency Tuesday, following similar action by Modoc County in mid-March. Neighboring Lassen County also has reported increased gray wolf activity.
And in Colorado, a group of citizens is gathering petition signatures in hopes of putting the question of wolf reintroductions to voters through a ballot initiative in 2026. Federal wildlife managers recently killed a collared wolf that appeared to have crossed the state line into Wyoming and killed several sheep.
In Montana, lawmakers are considering legislation to extend the wolf hunting season, while wildlife managers in Idaho allow for limited trapping and snaring as a way to manage the population there.
Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies have been a source of lawsuits over the years. Those for and against the reintroduction strategy in the Southwest also have been waging legal battles with the federal government, with the fate of a management rule and the boundaries of the recovery area pending before a federal appeals court.
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The Hill
8 hours ago
- The Hill
Immigration protests put Democrats in tricky territory
Nationwide protests against President Trump's crackdown on immigration are putting Democrats in tricky political territory ahead of the high-stakes midterms. After demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids roiled Los Angeles and prompted Trump to call in the National Guard despite California's objections, protests cropped up this week in cities big and small, thrusting to the fore what has been a winning issue for Republicans in recent elections. While many in the party, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), are using the moment to hammer Trump on executive overreach, some also see the controversy as a key opening for Democrats to define themselves on immigration, where the GOP has held the advantage. 'Democrats have been so untrusted to handle this issue, in such a deep hole, that unless they reestablish themselves as trusted folks to handle it, they're not going to be able to take advantage of any chaos or softening [poll numbers] that's happening with Trump,' said Lanae Erickson, senior vice president for social policy and politics at the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way. Trump, who won the White House last fall with promises to 'seal' the border and kick-start day–one deportations, has been implementing an aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration in his second term. ICE arrests have topped 100,000 under Trump so far, the White House announced last week, and border czar Tom Homan said workplace immigration enforcement is set to 'massively expand' amid the pushback. Protests broke out June 6 after ICE raids in Los Angeles, prompting Trump to call in National Guard troops and Marines, as well as spurring on similar demonstrations in other cities. More were planned for this weekend, though not all are specific to immigration, and set to coincide with Trump's massive military parade in Washington. The demonstrators have largely been peaceful, but Republicans have seized on scenes of chaos — including a viral clip of a figure brandishing a Mexican flag atop a vehicle amid flames — to support long-standing claims that Democrats are weak on immigration and crime. 'My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings and assaulting law enforcement,' Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) pointed out on the social platform X this week. As a result, blue state leaders in California and elsewhere have been walking a balance beam between supporting the right to protest and condemning any violence, while also navigating debate on issues that have long been weak points for the party. 'This whole situation is doing something Trump has been very good at in his elections, which is to smash together immigration and crime and make it seem like Democrats don't care about addressing either of those problems,' Erickson said. 'If it seems like Democrats are letting [lawbreakers] do that with impunity and only criticizing Trump, I think that that'll really undermine our trust with American voters.' Meanwhile, some recent polls have suggested a softening of approval for Trump's immigration handling as the ICE raids make headlines. A Quinnipiac poll released this week had Trump 11 points underwater on the issue, compared with 5 points underwater in April. AP-NORC polling last week had him 7 points underwater, compared with 2 points last month. If Democrats can avoid playing into the idea of the party being soft on crime and border security, and use this moment to unify their messaging on immigration policy, they could make critical inroads ahead of the next election, argued Democratic strategist Maria Cardona. 'Part of the problem for Democrats in the last election was that we didn't talk about [immigration] enough, and we didn't define ourselves. … We gave Republicans a huge opening to weaponize it against us, and they took it,' Cardona said. Now, the growing protests present a 'terrific opportunity' for Democrats to lean in, Cardona said, pointing to the protests across the country as 'proof that Trump's approach on this is failing.' New polling on key 2026 battleground districts from the progressive group Way to Win and the firm Impact Research, conducted just before the protests, found that Trump was 'the strongest and most trusted voice' on immigration issues, with congressional Democrats a whopping 58 points in the negative, compared with their Republican counterparts' minus 11 points. But there were 'significant openings' for Democrats, researchers said. Most voters said Trump and Republicans have 'gone too far' in their handling of immigration, and there was a 6-point gap between voters' support for GOP immigration policies and the way that those policies have been carried out and enforced. 'Immigration was not a winning issue for Democrats last cycle. That's true … and certainly, remaining silent on the issue didn't help. So when Trump made his whole campaign a campaign that once again scapegoated immigrants … and there's no pushback, or if the pushback stays on his turf, making it a story about linking immigration to criminality only, then we lose,' Tory Gavito, president of Way to Win, told The Hill. 'Democrats need to remember that public opinion can shift, and Democrats have a role in shifting public opinion by making a clear argument about what they believe in and why,' Gavito said. When respondents in the survey were presented with messaging that suggested Trump and Republicans' immigration enforcement signals a threat to citizens' rights, his approval on immigration dropped 10 points. 'The immigration policy battlefield is a challenging one for Democrats, it truly is. But if you walk away from the battle, you're letting the other side play alone, and that's how they win.' At the same time, experts say the protests also pose a prime chance for Democrats to knock Trump for executive overreach and an abuse of power, even if they can't win the argument on immigration. 'The risk attached to the current protests over Trump's immigration raids is that Democrats will again be painted as 'soft on crime,' which requires that the immigrants being rounded up are overwhelmingly guilty of some serious criminal offense. Clearly this is not the case, but the administration and its allies are putting out tons of disinformation,' said Wayne Cornelius, director emeritus of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego and a former immigration adviser to former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's and former President Biden's campaigns, in an email to The Hill. 'The potential opportunity for Democrats … is that the administration will overreach, causing widespread economic disruptions and backlash in the communities into which long-staying immigrants have become integrated.' Newsom has been among the leading voices messaging along those lines, casting Trump's moves in California as an existential fight for democracy that could quickly impact the rest of the country. 'This is about all of us. This is about you,' Newsom said this week. 'California may be first — but it clearly won't end there. Other states are next. Democracy is next.' The complex conversations about how Democrats should approach immigration and border security come after the topics were seen as defining factors in their 2024 losses, and as the party looks toward a high-stakes midterm cycle next year. 'Immigration is quite possibly the wedge issue of this season for Democrats. If they swing too far in one direction, they will be painted and seen as anti-order on behalf of non-Americans. … If they swing too far in the other direction, they will be seen as complicit in the destruction of our democracy,' said Democratic strategist Fred Hicks. 'We have to connect this to larger issues with the Trump administration,' Hicks said. 'This can't be about immigration alone, or Democrats run the risk of losing the projected advantage in 2026.'
Los Angeles Times
13 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Immigration raids continue, sparking more anxiety
Immigration raids continuted to spark anxiety and anger over the weekend across Southern California. Armed, masked ICE agents executed a raid Saturday afternoon at a swap meet in the city of Santa Fe Springs hours before a concert was to begin, witnesses said. The agents arrived at Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet around 3:30 p.m., according to eyewitness Howie Rezendez, who filmed armed agents hop off their vehicles and head into the venue. 'There were around 50 to 80,' Rezendez said. 'They had more than 30 cars and vans packed with agents, and three helicopters up there too.' A concert featuring musical acts like Los Cadetes De Linares, Los Dinamicos Del Norte and La Nueva Rebelión was scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. But online footage from witnesses show a nearly vacant venue, a stark contrast to the large crowds the venue typically attracts. Rezendez said the agents left around 4:30 p.m. Omar Benjamin Zaldivar, who also recorded the agents, said ICE took 'a bunch of people.' 'If you looked Hispanic in any way, they just took you,' Zaldivar said. The number of people swept up from the raid remains unclear. Shortly after the raid, swap meet officials postponed the concert. 'Later we will provide details,' the Instagram post said. Swap meet officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The 17-acre outdoor hub first opened in 1965. Known as a hot spot for música Mexicana, the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet hosts an outdoor concert every weekend. Other popular Latino swap meets in Los Angeles appeared similarly vacant amid the ongoing ICE raids. The Whittier Swap Meet closed last week in preparation for possible raids. The Whittier Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The tensions were also felt at a major soccer game Saturday evening. Waving Mexican flags and signs criticizing President Trump, about 300 people overtook sidewalks in Inglewood on Saturday afternoon in the hours leading up to the soccer game between the Mexican and Dominican Republic national teams. Esmeralda Sanchez, who was not attending the game at SoFi Stadium, said she came to the rally to support family members and friends who are not in the country legally. 'We are the voice that our parents and the older generation couldn't be today,' Sanchez said over the sound of horns and cheers. The parking lot outside the stadium felt relatively subdued, with some fans making carne asada on portable grills and others waving Mexican flags. Emilio Estrada and Ashley Ruiz from Bakersfield posed for a photo in front of the lake by the stadium, saying their parents had been fretting about their visit to L.A. 'My mom kept calling me as we drove down,' Estrada said. Jesse Murillo of Orange County said attending the game to support the Mexican national team felt like a clear sign of protest against the federal government. 'We're not afraid to come out here and show our colors,' he said. 'No matter what, our people have always found a way to be here.' His friend Richard Barrera said many people were afraid because so much information, and misinformation, is ricocheting around social media. 'So many people are living in fear and that seems unfair, because you see so much online and then it turns out ICE isn't there,' Barrera said. Across the street from the stadium, Inglewood native Jorge Gomez said he had been nervous about attending any protests because of the immigration raids playing out across Southern California. 'I've been trying to be more wary, be more careful,' he said. 'I shouldn't be out here, but I am — because deep down inside is something that keeps telling me that this is wrong and I need to stand up.' Taqueros, fruteros and other street vendors are emptying the streets of Los Angeles amid widespread immigration sweeps, fearing their own arrest and deportation. But a Koreatown-based nonprofit recently launched a fundraiser to offset lost wages, donating to cover rent, utilities and other necessities — and allowing vendors to stay home. 'The reason they were out there, even though it's so dangerous to their safety right now,' is because the rent is so high and they have bills,' said Andreina Kniss, an organizer and longtime volunteer at Ktown for All. 'We got together and we said, 'Every day we can keep them off the streets is a day they're safer.'' Ktown for All is sourcing donations through Venmo, with account information posted to Instagram, then discreetly distributing them to dozens of street vendors to cover 30 days of rent and bills. According to Kniss, they've raised more than $50,000 in the last week. Since its founding in 2018, Ktown for All has focused most of its efforts on advocating for Koreatown's unhoused population and distributing resources such as water, blankets, laundry kits and prepared foods. In the course of feeding this demographic, members of Ktown for All built connections with the neighborhood's street vendors. In times of economic vendor hardship such as rainy seasons or emergencies like January's fires, the nonprofit launched a 'vendor buy-out' initiative to help sustain them. Donated funds 'buy out' food such as tamales and tacos from the vendors, then Ktown for All's volunteers distribute them to those in the nonprofit is approaching vendors in Koreatown and asking, 'What would it take to get you off the street?' Many vendors are simply being paid without supplying food.'We're street vendors,' one donation recipient told Ktown for All. Their name was withheld to maintain anonymity. 'We're afraid to go out, and all we want is to work for our families.' 'A lot of them are in hiding with no financial support right now,' said Kniss. 'It's really nauseating having to pick [between] paying your bills or being kidnapped.' For Kniss, the cause is personal. She was raised in a family of immigrants and farm workers on the Central Coast, and became a U.S. citizen herself five years ago. 'Having been one of those families that had lived in fear, seeing the way that our street vendors were living in terror, really struck my heart,' she said. The nonprofit plans to fundraise for the 'vendor buy-out' until ICE leaves Los Angeles or until the money runs out, and is regularly finding new street vendors to support through its network. The program's reach is already expanding beyond Koreatown, aiding a frutero in Echo Park, a hot dog seller in downtown and response from the community, Kniss said, is overwhelming. She hopes other mutual-aid organizations will 'copy' the method.'I thought the extreme 'fears' of having my family ripped apart from me as a little boy were just exaggerations,' another anonymous vendor wrote to Ktown for All. 'But now this administration [has] resurfaced those same fears and have terrorized the most genuine, kind and hard-working immigrants I've known for my entire life.'
San Francisco Chronicle
18 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Letters: Sen. Padilla's removal from Noem event indicative of Trump's cynical policies
The slam down, handcuffing and forceful removal of Sen. Alex Padilla from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's press conference on Thursday flows from the violence and unrest caused by President Donald Trump's policies to go after the undocumented immigrants where they work, shop and go to school. Immigrants are not criminals but hard-working people (often in jobs others would not consider) who pay taxes and contribute significantly to our economy. They have been allowed to stay in the United States, often for generations, because they are needed Both political parties have failed to pass legislation that would deal with immigration in an efficient and humane way. The most recent attempt, before the presidential election, would have passed but for the opposition of candidate Trump, who cynically sought to exploit the issue. I fear he is now exploiting the unrest he is causing to use it as a means to declare martial law and gain absolute power. Tom Miller, Oakland Deport the worst I am somewhat appalled by the media describing the disruptions in Los Angeles as mostly peaceful demonstrations protected by free speech, accompanied by pictures of burning cars, looting and attacks on police. If these people want to peacefully join our society, why are some of them waving Mexican and, in a few cases, BLM flags? If they intend to intimidate me, they should return to their own country, self-identified by the flag they are waving. Most of our forebears came here legally and peacefully, including, in my case, some from Mexico. I would be happy with a system that screens potential citizens, and excludes those who want to commit crimes or intimidate those around them. I approve of President Donald Trump's stated goal of deporting the worst first. We need to get rid of those who commit crimes. I would be happy to see new citizens, but not the thugs who intimidate us through their demonstrations. Peter Behr, San Anselmo Newsom is right Regarding 'Trump vs. Newsom an ugly skirmish that benefits both politicians' (Politics, June 10): The story suggests that President Donald Trump's search for dictatorial powers through intimidation, fear and escalating violence, and Gov Gavin Newsom calling this out is simply a tit-for-tat play for the attention of an uninformed public. It is becoming more obvious that Trump is trying to tear down the guardrails of civil society, trash the Constitution and eliminate all opposition. If Gov. Newsom did not express his strong, powerful and articulate opposition to this despicable behavior, he would not be doing his job. The Chronicle must not be afraid to illuminate the fact that Trump is a mortal danger to our democratic way of life. Kanda Alahan, Concord
