Michelle Lujan Grisham

Portrait of Michelle Lujan Grisham
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Michelle Lujan Grisham is a Democratic politician and lawyer who has served as New Mexico's governor since 2019. She previously represented the state's 1st District in the U.S. House and chaired the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Her earlier roles included Bernalillo County commissioner and leadership of New Mexico's health and aging departments. Born in Los Alamos, she earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of New Mexico.

What DI has documented

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

Topics in this coverage

Statements by Michelle Lujan Grisham

Portrait of Michelle Lujan Grisham

Michelle Lujan Grisham

Role at the time: Governor of New Mexico

Condemned

Response to this claim

The DHS waiver of New Mexico's water laws is unconstitutional because the state constitution makes New Mexico's water public property and the Tenth Amendment protects the state's authority to regulate it.

“New Mexico will not stand by while the federal government carelessly drains our most precious resource to push its inhumane agenda. New Mexicans refuse to pay for the federal government's flagrant disregard for the Constitution with our water.”
Read the official statement (opens in a new tab)Federal government claims power to override New Mexico law over illegal border wells · Michelle Lujan GrishamFull release
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. Lujan Grisham says the federal government "carelessly drains our most precious resource" with "flagrant disregard for the Constitution", so we labeled it Condemned. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional; it loses because her support for border security does not extend to the waiver, which she opposes outright.

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.