Public News Service--James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, said the last-place ranking is disappointing, but the overall improvement in 10 of the 16 indicators is encouraging. "So that's a positive thing - not as much as we'd like, and maybe some other states are improving more than we are, but at the same time, at least 10 of those indicators moved in the right direction," Jimenez said.
“What these data reflect is the end result of ten years of stingy state budgets under previous administrations that starved our schools, courts, health care, and other services that our families and businesses need in order to thrive,” said James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, which runs the Kids Count program in New Mexico. “We were able to undo some of that damage during the 2019 and 2020 legislative sessions, but how lawmakers respond to the current recession will determine whether those gains are sustained,” he added.
State Data Sheet New Mexico ranks 50th in the nation in child well-being for the fourth time since 2013. This state profile shows how our children are faring on the 16 indicators of child well-being used in the national KIDS COUNT rankings. (State-level data on the 16 indicators of child well-being.)
Public News Service--James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, says the congressional impasse over a comprehensive immigration bill left approximately 6,000 New Mexico DACA recipients in limbo. "The main reason we have DACA is because of the failure of the Congress to be able to pass meaningful immigration reform, which is really putting families in a very challenging, very harmful position," he states.
NM Political Report--Trump sought to end the program by questioning whether former President Barack Obama had overstepped his authority by creating the program through executive order. James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, called Trump’s efforts ironic. “The irony is that the Trump administration never misses an opportunity to claim no limits to what the president can do,” Jimenez said.
Albuquerque Journal--“The fight to end this program that has allowed me to make my dreams come true is rooted in racism and xenophobia.” She urged lawmakers to come up with a permanent solution. And James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, said DACA “is not a path to citizenship, and making it one must be our goal moving forward.”
“Born of the failure of Congress to enact true immigration reform, DACA has never been a perfect program, but it is a step in the right direction for the hundreds of thousands of young people born in another country. For many of these youth, America is the only home they have ever known. To deport them to what is, for some of them, a foreign country does not align to American values of fairness, inclusion, and the dream of a better life through hard work."
New Mexico In Depth--“There is a real inconsistency in promoting the (Council on Racial Justice) on the one hand and trying to have the lawsuit dismissed on the other,” said James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children. “The lawsuit is about racial equity.”
Carlsbad Current Argus--“Moving forward with oil and gas lease sales in the middle of this pandemic--when the oil market is crashing, and communities are focused on the health and safety of their loved ones — is misguided, dangerous, and just flat wrong,” Jimenez said.
Rio Rancho Observer--Like all great social upheaval, change will not occur until it is demanded. Those in power must see that fundamental reform is the only way they can keep their power and that, if they resist, they will be replaced. That means getting angry and channeling the anger constructively. It means taking to the streets and protesting peacefully. And most of all, it means voting. Voting for candidates who are committed to dismantling structural racism in all our institutions.