Helping asylum seekers and migrants and recognizing the impact of the atomic industry on downwinders topped the short Albuquerque City Council meeting held on March 18.
Migrant Help
An increasing number of migrants arriving in Albuquerque — “due to unforeseen circumstances at the southern U.S. border” — since early fall has stretched thin the nonprofit tasked with providing services, according to a memo requesting emergency funding from the council.
With that in mind, councilors unanimously approved an interoffice memorandum modifying the contract with United Voices for Newcomer Rights to give the organization an additional $50,000 — bringing the total contract to $150,000 since April 2023.
The city administration said it will seek reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the funding it already spent, adding that this is common practice when dealing with federal government grants.
The modification to the contract was first introduced at the March 5 meeting, where some councilors questioned the expenditure and asked for a deferral until Monday’s meeting.
During questioning, Michelle Melendez, director of the Department of Equity and Inclusion, said the grant has helped 1,061 migrants. She said many of the migrants are traveling with small children which makes most homeless shelters unavailable to families and the funding is used to help pay for transportation and other costs for migrants to go on to their target destinations.
“It just seems like a very small price to pay to make sure that we are greeting people when they arrive in our country, helping them to their destination,” Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn said at the meeting.
If the funding was not provided, the city administration warned in its memo that there was “the potential of having hundreds of migrants sleeping outdoors or presenting at homeless shelters that are at or exceeding capacity.”
Fiebelkorn added that the money is necessary to help people get where they’re going.
“They will not get the assistance they need, and we might see more of them staying in Albuquerque because they literally might not be able to find their way beyond Albuquerque,” she said.
Public comment at Monday’s meeting was in favor of the funding. A representative from the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center said, “The City of Albuquerque must demonstrate solidarity and support for our immigration communities. We urge the city council to pass this request to humanize further and support the immigrant community that makes up a huge portion of our population.”
We Are All Downwinders
After the award-winning Oppenheimer movie thrust New Mexico into the atomic spotlight, City Councilors issued a proclamation in support of extending and expanding the nation’s Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). This act pays restitution and medical care to people who were exposed to radiation from the U.S. nuclear weapons testing program.
Councilor Fiebelkorn sponsored the proclamation in support of extending the act which is scheduled to expire this year on June 7. She said she believes that the compensation should be extended and should expand to cover New Mexicans. The U.S. Congress has approved budgeting $50 billion per year to compensate downwinders for the past 33 years under the act.
“It has been nearly 80 years since the first nuclear bomb was detonated in New Mexico and since then over one thousand atomic tests have been conducted in the southwest of the U.S.,” Councilor Fiebelkorn stated in a press release. “Hundreds of thousands of those exposed to nuclear radioactivity have received some form of compensation, and yet thousands of “Downwinders” in our own state have never been included in the RECA act compensation.”
“Everyone in New Mexico is a downwinder and many people in Albuquerque have been affected by New Mexico’s nuclear industry,” Tina Cordova, cancer survivor and co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium said.
How to participate
The next City Council meeting is set for Monday, April 1, at 5 p.m. in the Vincent E. Griego Chambers, on the basement level of the Albuquerque Government Center. The meetings are broadcast on GOV-TV or on the City Council’s YouTube channel. The full council agenda can be found here.
Screw that
Whether NM or the federal government provides the money for illegals, it is still costing taxpayers. The governor has abdicated her responsibility for public safety and fiscal discipline.