The Dispute Index

Joseph Cervantes

Joseph Cervantes is a Democratic member of the New Mexico Senate representing District 31, which covers parts of Dona Ana and Otero counties. A Las Cruces attorney, he served in the New Mexico House of Representatives from 2001 to 2012 before joining the Senate, where he has chaired the Judiciary Committee.

State legislatorAlso known as Joe CervantesWebsite (opens in a new tab)

What DI has documented

DI has documented statements by Joseph Cervantes on Federalism and Immigration Policy. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.

Topics in this coverage

Statements by Joseph Cervantes

Joseph Cervantes

Role at the time: New Mexico state senator, District 31

Condemned

Response to this claim

Wells drilled to supply border wall construction in New Mexico were improperly built and create a risk of contaminating the aquifer.

“When somebody is contaminating our water openly and really just defiantly, thumbing their nose at us.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Trump administration says it's waiving New Mexico water law to keep using disputed wells for border wall · Searchlight New MexicoFull article
Why we used this label

The reference point is DHS's October 2 waiver of New Mexico water law and the federal use of wells drilled without state permits for border wall construction. Cervantes describes the federal work as "contaminating our water openly" and "thumbing their nose at us", so we labeled it Condemned. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional; it loses because his criticism of the state's pace is a call for stronger action against the wells, not support for them.

Read statementDHS waives New Mexico water law for border wall wells; state officials call the waiver unconstitutional

A participant is a subject of the case. A speaker has a statement documented in it. A commentator has an opinion or editorial documented in it.