NM lawmaker whose son was murdered rips Dems for ‘homicide scholarships' after her crime bill was tanked
State Rep. Nicole Chavez of Albuquerque said Thursday she is "sickened" by the developments.
"New Mexico Democrats voted to hand offenders like my son's killer $2,000 a month—some twisted reward for shattering my family," Chavez said of the "homicide scholarship" moniker first dubbed by state Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, earlier this month.
That bill would provide a monthly stipend for certain former convicts under the age of 26 seeking educational opportunities or other ways to get on the proverbial straight-and-narrow, according to multiple reports.
Per the text of the bill, it would provide money for the Juvenile Community Connections Fund to be used toward programs providing services for adjudicated delinquents and youth, and establish a panel to determine the next steps for a convict released from a juvenile facility.
"I sponsored HB 134 to deliver justice and accountability, but they refused to come to the table," Chavez said of her original bill.
Chavez's bill, which had the support of Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, was effectively tanked by Democrats in the House – reportedly including some originally warm to it.
HB 134 sought to update 1970's-era New Mexico laws outlining the criminal justice process for juveniles, including moving some violent crimes like first-degree murder for younger teen suspects to adult court.
Lujan Grisham and a handful of Democratic prosecutors supported the bill, according to the Piñon Post, but four Democrats in the Consumer & Public Affairs Committee successfully tabled the bill, which has yet to see further movement as the session winds down.
"This is not progress—it is a knife in the heart of every parent who has buried a child," Chavez said Thursday. "New Mexico Democrats have turned their backs on victims and their families, choosing instead to reward the very criminals who destroyed our lives."
Instead, the purported "homicide scholarship" bill was given a reading and passed by the House earlier this month.
Montoya told the Santa Fe New Mexican the new bill, HB 255, is "a perfect example of how progressives think about crime, that the individual doesn't need to be held responsible for their actions – [in that they] need to be coddled, that they're somehow a victim themselves, and we need to make sure that they have an opportunity, and we need to do everything we can to rehabilitate them even when it means we do more for them than the victims."
Lujan Grisham did not respond to requests for comment on the latter bill.
The governor approved a criminal justice package earlier this month that reportedly targeted fentanyl trafficking in the border state and dealt with suspects deemed mentally unfit for trial and grand theft auto penalties.
However, she was also lambasted by Republicans for supporting what conservatives called one of the strictest pieces of gun control legislation last week. Meanwhile, another top House Republican called the "homicide scholarship" bill "another betrayal to New Mexicans."
"Democrats have forced through legislation that gives juvenile murderers $2,000 monthly scholarships, funded by the sweat of hardworking taxpayers. This isn't compassion—it's a perverse reward for bloodshed, a signal to every thug that crime pays in this state," said Rep. Stefani Lord of Sandia Park.
Rep. Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis, added that "Homicide Scholarships should alarm every New Mexican who fears for their safety," and that the signal sent by the bill is that "crime truly pays."
"Instead of passing common-sense legislation [from Chavez] … they are playing political games at the expense of victims and taxpayers," Reeb said, while Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, added that in the Land of Enchantment, "victims get ignored; thugs get pampered."
Fox News Digital reached out for a response from Senate President Pro-Tem Mimi Stewart and House Speaker Javier Martinez, both Albuquerque Democrats.
House Majority Leader Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe, also did not respond by press time.
One Democrat, Rep. Andrea Romero of Santa Fe, spoke to the Albuquerque Journal about her opposition to Chavez' bill, saying that "we're talking about detaining and committing children." An Albuquerque prosecutor also cited a 57% increase in juvenile crime in a one-year period through 2023.
Lujan Grisham told the paper that she will continue to urge lawmakers to "answer the call" on juvenile justice reform.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC News
26 minutes ago
- NBC News
Iraq and Afghanistan veteran launches Democratic campaign against Sen. Susan Collins in Maine
Graham Platner, a 40-year-old Army and Marine veteran who served four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, launched his campaign for the Senate in Maine on Tuesday, joining a growing Democratic primary field seeking to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Platner, an oyster farmer who was born and raised in Sullivan, Maine, will run on a platform of universal health care, housing affordability and ending U.S. involvement in foreign wars. 'I feel an obligation to protect this place and protect the people in it,' Platner said in an interview. Platner joins a growing Democratic primary field that features Jordan Wood, a former chief of staff to former Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., and David Costello, who challenged independent Sen. Angus King last year. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has said she is considering getting into the contest, while Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, has opted against joining the budding primary in what, on paper, might look like Democrats' best opportunity to flip a Senate seat in 2026. Collins is the only Republican senator who represents a state Kamala Harris carried in the last presidential election. But she has proven a tough opponent in blue Maine. In her last campaign, in 2020, she beat Democratic opponent Sarah Gideon by more than 8 percentage points, even as Donald Trump lost Maine by more than 9 points. Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, meaning Democrats would need to flip four seats in the 2026 midterms to take the majority. Platner said his experience in the military helped shape his political perspective as he prepared his campaign. 'When I joined the Marine Corps, I joined up because I really, truly believed in the American project,' he said. 'I wanted to fight for something I loved and that I thought was good in Iraq and Afghanistan. I watched both failed policies, failed strategies, failed tactics being used over and over and over again.' 'There's a point where you have to start asking yourself what is the point of this,' he added. 'Why are you doing this? And when I went back as a security contractor in 2018, what I began to realize is that I was just watching vast amounts of taxpayer money getting put into the pockets of defense contractors, of security contractors, of this whole apparatus that almost seemed to exist merely to take taxpayer money and put it into somebody's private bank account. And in seeing that up close for a while, it turned me into a deeply, deeply cynical and angry guy. From that I began to kind of look at our larger political system, our larger economic system, and you just begin to see the same exact thing.' Platner is seeking to connect with working-class voters who've migrated toward the GOP in recent cycles. He pointed to Golden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as figures offering hope for the Democratic Party nationally and in his state. 'If we focus primarily on fighting for working-class values, fighting for policies that help working-class people, clawing back a lot of the power that has been consolidated in the kind of higher establishment-class politics, I think if you stick to that stuff, you can win,' Platner said. 'And getting dragged into many of these minor culture war fights is not remotely the answer.' 'I don't just identify with the more of the left parts of the party. People like Jared Golden are doing an excellent job. That's why he's been able to hold on to a Democratic seat in a Trump district,' Platner said. In his launch video, Platner excoriated 'billionaires and corrupt politicians profiting off and destroying our environment, driving our families into poverty and crushing the middle class,' saying his military experience made him unafraid to 'name an enemy, and the enemy is the oligarchy.' 'I'm not fooled by this fake charade of Collins' deliberations and moderation,' he said.
37 minutes ago
What to know about redistricting fights as Texas Democrats return and California starts work
Republicans can move ahead with redrawing Texas' congressional districts now that Democratic lawmakers have returned to the state. Efforts to thwart President Donald Trump's push to tilt the political map for next year's midterm elections in his favor shifted to California. Dozens of Texas Democrats ended a two-week walkout Monday after Democrats in California heeded Gov. Gavin Newsom's call to counter the GOP effort in Texas. In California, the Democratic-supermajority Legislature faces tight deadlines, and a plan would have to be approved by voters in November. Republicans have more options for mid-decade redistricting than Democrats because they control more statehouses, and they've talked about redrawing districts in Florida, Indiana and Missouri. Here's what to know. Both Trump and the Democrats are looking ahead to the 2026 midterms knowing that they often go against the president's party, as they did during Trump's first term in 2018. Republicans currently have a seven-seat majority in the 435-member House. State legislatures draw the lines after each U.S. census in most states — including Texas — and only a few dozen House districts are competitive. In Texas, Republicans hold 25 of 38 seats, and they're trying to increase that to 30. In California, Democrats have 43 of the 52 seats, and they're trying to boost that to 48, to wipe out the advantage the GOP would gain from redrawing lines in Texas. In some ways, the nation's most-populous state, California, is a reverse-mirror image of the nation's second most-populous state, Texas. Democrats are even more firmly in control of state government there than Republicans are in Texas, with Democratic supermajorities in both California legislative chambers. But California's districts were drawn by an independent commission created by a statewide vote in 2008 after years of intense partisan battles over redistricting. Democrats are trying to avoid legal challenges to a new map by asking voters to approve it as an exception to the normal process, which would require a special election in November. Texas has no such commission, so its Legislature doesn't have to seek voters' approval for its maps. California lawmakers were returning Monday to the state capital from a summer break. They are scheduled to remain in session through Sept. 12. Republicans have solid majorities in both chambers of the Texas Legislature, and a Democrat hasn't won statewide office there since 1994. But Texas is among a handful of states where two-thirds of each chamber must be present to conduct business, and the GOP majorities are not that large. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott already had called a special legislative session when Trump began pushing for a new congressional map, but GOP lawmakers could not conduct business after most Democratic lawmakers left for blue states, including California, Illinois and Massachusetts. But there were pressures on Democrats against holding out longer. They were away from their families and nonlegislative jobs, and their walkout also prevented lawmakers from providing relief to the Texas Hill Country ravaged by deadly flash flooding in July. They also faced fines of $500 per day, as well as efforts to oust some of them from office.
Time Magazine
an hour ago
- Time Magazine
Texas Democrat Locked in State Capitol for Refusing Mandatory Escort
Rep. Nicole Collier, a Democrat representing Fort Worth, claims that she's been unlawfully locked in the Texas House chambers, where she remained overnight Monday and may stay for days until the issue is resolved. Collier was one of dozens of Democrats who fled the state earlier this month to break quorum in an effort to block a vote on a contentious redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump that would favor Republican candidates in the 2026 midterm elections. Some of the representatives returned on Monday for the start of a second special session but GOP Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows is requiring that they be escorted by state troopers when leaving the House chamber to prevent another walkout. Collier, however, said she would not agree to such monitoring. 'I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts,' Collier said in a statement to media outlets. 'My constituents sent me to Austin to protect their voices and rights,' she said. 'When I press that button to vote, I know these maps will harm my constituents—I won't just go along quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination.' Proposed Texas maps kicked off interstate redistricting fight Texas GOP leaders have criticized the Democrats that fled for having 'abandoned their duties.' Earlier this month, Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit to remove 13 representatives from office over their continued absence on Aug. 8, while Gov. Greg Abbott requested that the Texas Supreme Court vacate the seat of House Democratic leader Gene Wu. Litigation is ongoing, although it's not clear how the members' return will affect the suits. Even so, the passage of the redistricting plan is all but guaranteed. The Texas Senate redistricting committee approved the maps on Sunday, and the Republican-majority upper chamber could vote on the plan as soon as this Wednesday. 'We knew that this was something we were not going to be able to stop,' Rep. Ramon Romero, one of the Democrats who fled, told the Fort Worth Report. 'We could slow it down, though, and that's exactly what we did.' Texas Republicans were energized by the Democrats' return. 'Representatives come and go. Issues rise and fall. But this body has endured wars, economic depressions and quorum breaks dating back to the very first session,' Burrows said at Monday's session. 'We are done waiting. We have a quorum. Now is the time for action.' Trump posted on Truth Social, 'Please pass this Map, ASAP.' Trump had earlier threatened to involve Federal Bureau of Investigations officers in bringing back the representatives. The Democrats' return to the state comes after California launched its own redistricting plan that would counter the Texas Republicans' efforts. Several more states—Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New York, and Ohio—have also entered redistricting battles. Redistricting typically happens once every 10 years, after the U.S. census, which was last conducted in 2020. But Trump and his allies began lobbying for Republican states to redraw their congressional lines sooner, in order to gain an advantage in next year's midterms. 'Now that the nation is involved in this fight, some Texas Democrats are coming back to fight these racist maps in the legislature and then in the courts,' Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said in a statement Monday. 'Texans can see that the Republicans would rather serve Trump than serve the interests of Texans.' Wu told the Houston Chronicle that the Democrats will challenge the legality of the maps. Many Democrats, though, did not return on Monday. 'Even if California and New York redistrict and successfully get rid of Republicans, that doesn't help my district,' Rep. Jolanda Jones, who did not return to Texas, told the New York Times. 'We will lose one Black seat in Houston and one Black seat in Dallas. That's unacceptable.' Collier alleges 'illegal confinement' Collier told CBS that she could go to her office with a police escort and with Department of Public Safety officers stationed outside or she could remain inside the chamber. She told the Fort Worth Report that she does not know how long she will be there for. Collier has filed a habeas corpus petition to a Travis County court alleging her 'illegal confinement.' Another Democratic representative, Ann Johnson, signed the permission slip but remained with Collier for some time after objecting to being followed by an officer. Johnson eventually left the chamber. 'This is another exercise of authority and power over people of color, over people who resist,' said Collier, who is the former chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus. 'This exercise, this requirement that we be trailed by DPS officers who could be out there fighting crime is not only a waste of taxpayer dollars, but is also offensive to the dignity of each one of us who has been elected by our constituents to come here and fight.' Collier's attention-grabbing move has been applauded by Democrats across the state and country. 'As a former Texas State Rep, let me be clear: LOCKING Rep. Nicole Collier inside the chamber is beyond outrageous,' U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D, Texas) posted on X. 'Forcing elected officials to sign 'permission slips' and take police escorts to leave? That's not procedure. That's some old Jim Crow playbook.' Democratic state senator Roland Gutierrez, who visited Collier in the chamber, posted a video of a group of supporters gathered inside the Texas Capitol building that was chanting, 'Let her out.'
