Rep. Xochitl Torres Small questioned on guns, immigration, climate

LAS CRUCES - U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, D-NM, took questions on climate change, gun control, President Donald Trump's border wall and a range of policy topics during a town hall in her home town of Las Cruces Thursday evening. 

According to her staff, it was the congresswoman's 11th town hall meeting since she took office in January. 

The event was held at the Munson Senior Center on Mesquite Street, and Torres Small, who grew up and still resides in Las Cruces, greeted members of the public waiting in line to enter the hall before the event began. 

Torres Small opened the evening by presenting a Purple Heart to Frank Tuma, a local veteran of the Vietnam War, 49 years after being wounded in action. Tuma received two standing ovations during the evening: one when he received his medal from the congresswoman, and the second when he left the meeting later in the evening. 

For two hours, Torres Small answered questions that were submitted on index cards by those in attendance, staying to engage in one-on-one conversations and pose for a few photographs. 

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Many of Torres Small's responses to difficult questions about the economy, including health care costs and national debt, stressed the complexity of policy and the need for bipartisan solutions. 

Health, guns, border security

She defended the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act system signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010 as a key to holding down health care costs and preserving a competitive market for private health insurance while policing "junk plans" that do not cover pre-existing conditions. 

Asked for her preferred action on gun regulations, on a night falling about a month after the Aug. 3 mass shooting in nearby El Paso, Torres Small said, "The second amendment right (to bear arms) comes with its responsibilities, and that's why I voted for comprehensive background checks. Because I think, like most gun owners do, that we have to act responsibly and make sure we're keeping our communities safe." 

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Reminding the audience that she was a gun-owner and hunter, Torres Small said that she reviews gun control legislation asking "the questions a gun owner would ask."

Challenged on her support for a $4.59 billion supplemental spending bill on border security, she admitted the legislation "was not perfect," but included funding for migrant family assistance and mandatory reporting about children separated from migrant families. 

She said those separations continue "under the guise of concern for a child's welfare. There may be situations where that is true ... If the child is being separated it needs to be reported immediately so that we can review those facts and make sure that it truly was in the best interest of that kid."

Meanwhile, she called for policy initiatives addressing Central American violence, identified as a catalyst for increased migration and asylum applications in the United States, and work visa programs.  

Climate control and industry's role

Another area of compromise Torres Small promoted, when asked about climate change and transitioning away from fossil fuel, was wit oil and gas, a key industry in the congresswoman's district.

While describing climate change and its subsequent effects as an "existential threat," she said an orderly transition to a "carbon neutral" economy would require collaboration with the oil and gas industry. 

More: Health insurance costs rising for many New Mexico teachers

Asked for her position on impeachment of President Trump, for which several of her Democratic colleagues in Washington have expressed support, Torres Small told the audience she was "not convinced" the facts on record merited impeachment and removal of the president.

Southern New Mexicans 'see all sides of it'

During the current recess, Torres Small has conducted town halls in Carlsbad, Anthony and Tularosa as well as Thursday's event in Las Cruces. 

She has also conducted forums consisting of brief individual meetings with constituents to provide an alternative to large public events.

Following the Las Cruces meeting, Torres Small told the Sun-News that besides security and humanitarian conditions at the border and impeachment, health care dominates the questions she receives from constituents during her visits home. 

In New Mexico's second congressional district, one of the largest districts in the United States, Torres Small said, "people are much more willing to recognize the complexity of the challenges we face (at the border), because we see all sides of it."

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.