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The Las Cruces City Council removed a resolution condemning the war in Gaza and calling for a permanent ceasefire in Palestine during a council meeting that became a rolling protest before the meeting resumed regular business.
The resolution would not have assigned city resources or directed staff to do anything. Instead, it would have been a statement of belief disseminated to state and federal officials. Still, the resolution brought dozens of residents to voice support or opposition for the resolution and the conflict it would have condemned in one of recent memory's most heated council meetings.
Before the resolution could be brought for a vote, a group of councilors united to kill it. Mayor Eric Enriquez asked for a vote to suspend the rules, allowing the resolution to be removed from the agenda.
Enriquez told the Bulletin he called for the resolution’s removal – instead of allowing it to be heard and voting against it – because he felt the resolution was “one-sided” and that the council would want to make too many amendments.
“The whole goal is to bring a balance, but there were so many amendments,” Enriquez told the Bulletin after the meeting.
Councilors Cassie McClure, Bill Mattiace, Becki Graham and Yvonne Flores sided with Enriquez and removed the ceasefire resolution from the agenda. Becky Corran and Johana Bencomo opposed removing it.
At that point, about two dozen people supporting the resolution got up and began chanting.
“Councilor McClure,” one protestor shouted, singling out the council’s newest member. “We charge you with genocide.”
For a minute or two, the protesters remained in the council chambers before moving into the lobby. There, they raised their voices, chanting “Viva Palestina.” The chant was loud and grew louder still, echoing in the empty lobby through the corridors of city hall. City employees couldn't help but stop what they were doing and watch.
After about five minutes, Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story left the meeting to speak with one of the protesters leading the group.
He later told the Bulletin, “I told her that we recognize their First Amendment right to free speech and that they are welcome to protest without interrupting the operations or business of the city. Their conduct, when I spoke to them, was interrupting city operations and would not be tolerated. She was very reasonable and had them go outside.”
Afterward, the protestors moved outside for another 10 or 15 minutes before petering out.
Jovany Hernandez, a community organizer at New Mexico Dream Team, led much of the chanting and spoke to reporters as the protest concluded. When asked if he anticipated the removal of the resolution, he said it wasn’t surprising to see the council stand with Israel.
“I think that we see time and time again our politicians bow to Zionist pressure and stand for genocide. So that was not surprising,” Hernandez said.
About two dozen people inside the chamber spoke against the resolution – many also condemned the councilors for allowing the resolution to get as far as it did. Others thanked them for removing it.
Overall, the anti-resolution crowd said any resolution should have included info about the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and that the council has more important and relevant business to attend to.
“The proposed resolution asks for a ceasefire in Gaza without any mention of Hamas,” Rabbi Evette Lutman of Temple Beth-El in Las Cruces said.
Peter Svarzbein, a former El Paso city councilor and the community engagement manager of El Paso Anti-Defamation League, thanked the council for “taking a step back.”
“I think we need to understand that two things can be true at the same time,” Svarzbein said. “Our hearts can and do break for the innocent lives lost in both Israel and Gaza and the humanitarian crisis that is occurring in Gaza. But at the same time, it is vitally important that we can and must hold Hamas accountable.”
Bencomo and Corran – the only councilors who supported the ceasefire resolution – also spoke out at the end of the meeting.
“Bringing that resolution forward,” Corran, who said she pushed for it, said, “came from a place of empathy and care for, in particular, the hundreds of people who signed a petition requesting that we consider bringing it forward, but also (empathy) for a humanitarian crisis in a part of the world where things matter to us.”
Bencomo read a statement. She used the opportunity to call out the dehumanization of Palestinians, including a moment when someone called the pro-Palestinian protesters "terrorists."
“Dehumanizing only serves to make us feel better about enacting bad or even dangerous policies that disproportionately impact black and brown folks,” Bencomo said. “I want to see an end to violence, and I want to see my tax dollars stop going to aid the violence.”
If the resolution had passed, Las Cruces would have joined a list of municipalities that have called for a permanent ceasefire.
The resolution listed San Francisco, Calif.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Seattle, Wash.; St. Louis, Miss.; Detroit, Mich.; Atlanta, Ga.; Akron, Ohio; Wilmington, Del.; Providence, R.I.; and Richmond, Calif. as examples.
The resolution also noted that 34,000 Palestinians had been killed, including 13,000 children, a number backed up by the United Nations. The resolution did not mention Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, where about 1,200 Israelis died.
The resolution also described the conflict as a genocide. The entire text can be viewed online here.
The future of the resolution – or any amended version – is in doubt. Mayor Enriquez said he did not expect to see it return.
