Land Management, Census & Policing Changes in New Mexico, plus DACA & the DREAM Act

William Perry Pendley has served the U.S. Bureau of Land Management under President Trump and is now deputy director for policy and programs. He visited New Mexico in September while still acting as head of the BLM, a role thrown out by a federal judge last week. While in the state, he visited Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a hotspot for the agency, which is developing two million acres of oil and gas leases in the area. During his visit, Pendley spoke with NMiF correspondent Laura Paskus about his vision for the agency, which oversees 700 million acres of land in the West.    New Mexico native and current University of Houston law professor Michael A. Olivas has been digging into the history of the DACA program, which deferred immigration enforcement action for childhood arrivals, and the DREAM Act, which has continued to evolve since first introduced in 2001. Correspondent Russell Contreras speaks with Olivas about how the history of the two initiatives informs the present and the future, with next month’s presidential election.    Gene Grant and The Line opinion panel look at the rush to get as many New Mexican residents as possible to respond to the 2020 Census. Although the final date to complete the census has been shifting – pushed up from October 31 to September 30 and at this moment October 5 – it’s clear that the deadline looms and is vital for federal funding that New Mexicans be counted. The Line also delves further into what former APD Chief Michael Geier is saying about being forced to retire, and looks at the governor’s dismissal of Mark Shea, the state’s public safety secretary.