State Senate member-elect Ant Thornton, Ph.D., a Republican from Sandia Park, has outlined his legislative agenda for the upcoming 2025 session, emphasizing his commitment to addressing key issues such as border security, human trafficking, illegal foreign national border crossings, voter ID laws and parental rights.
Other areas of focus from Thornton, who will enter the legislative session as a freshman Senator, will include parental rights to prevent minor mutilation, voter ID, the Oil and Gas Annual Rebate (OGAR), the Education Child Security Act and and the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Act.
Despite Republicans entering the session as the minority party, Thornton noted that he is determined to champion his target legislation.
“Just note, the Republican Party will be going into the legislature as the Minority party, and as such, the Majority party will more than likely kill most of our bills in committee,” Thornton said on X. “As a freshman Senator, what else should I attempt?”
The 2025 New Mexico legislative session will run from Jan. 2 to March 22, with the opening day on January 21, the deadline for bill introductions on February 20, and the session concluding at noon on March 22.
One of Thornton’s top priorities is a bill to fund the construction of a border wall along New Mexico’s 180-mile southern border with Mexico.
“New Mexico shares a 180-mile southern border with Mexico which is presently insecure,” Thornton said. “This law will help stop the tidal wave of illegal crossings into New Mexico, add funding to build the border wall, and crackdown on human smuggling and drug trafficking. The Biden Administration has already admitted that we have a humanitarian crisis at hand by losing track of 325,000 children brought into our country illegally. Adding a border wall will significantly curtail human and drug trafficking.”
Thornton’s proposal includes appropriating $4.5 billion in general revenue over a four-year period to oversee the construction of a wall along the state’s border with Mexico.
“Costs can be recovered by requesting the Trump Administration reimburse New Mexico through our Congressional delegation with federal dollars for every mile completed at the rate of $25M per mile,” he said. “This will allow the Trump Administration to receive credit for the building of the wall. Finally, this infrastructure project represents a 36-42 month long job construction program for NM citizens boosting the local economies along our southern border.”
Another critical focus for Thornton is human trafficking, with proposed legislation would impose harsher penalties on traffickers.
“This new law will create a mandatory ten-year minimum prison sentence for smuggling of persons and continuous smuggling of persons,” he said. “The law enhances the criminal penalties for the operation of a stash house and creates a mandatory five-year minimum prison sentence. It also further enhances criminal penalties for victim-related offenses that occurred during the commission of smuggling, such as assault and burglary.”
Thornton also aims to address illegal border crossings with a new bill criminalizing illegal reentry into New Mexico.
“This bill creates a criminal offense for illegal entry into this state from a foreign nation,” Thornton said. “The law cracks down on repeated attempts to enter New Mexico by creating the offense of illegal reentry and penalizes offenders with up to 20 years in prison.”
Other parts of Thornton's legislative agenda include the "Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Act," which would allow New Mexico’s State Treasurer to invest in digital assets, and the "Oil and Gas Annual Rebate (OGAR)," a tax holiday proposal to provide rebates to New Mexico residents based on surplus oil and gas revenue.
Thornton also intends to introduce the "Parental Rights to Prevent Minor Mutilation" bill, which would prohibit minors from receiving transgender treatments without parental consent.
“[P]rohibiting public bodies, including local municipalities, from engaging any individual under the age of 18 in the use of reproductive health care or transgender related hormone treatments without the expressed permission of the minor’s parents or legal guardian,” Thornton said. “Penalties for not informing parents or legal guardians could result in loss of medical licenses and/or two years suspension of medical practice.”
Thornton also addressed the need for stronger voter ID laws in New Mexico, referencing similar laws in other states.
“This legislation would require that all voters in statewide and federal elections be required to show photo identification to ensure New Mexico and U.S. citizenship prior to voting,” he said.
One of the more controversial proposals is the "Education Child Security Act," which would allow school staff who have concealed carry permits to bring firearms onto school campuses.
"Use of a firearm to protect school children in an emergency would not be mandatory, but it allows those individuals who are able to protect our kids in the event of a school shooter incident when seconds can be the difference between life or death,” Thornton said.
Thornton is also seeking input from New Mexicans, urging them to share their thoughts on what issues are most important.
“There are probably one thousand other issues that need to be addressed as a state legislator... I would like to hear FROM YOU what you think are the MOST important?” he said on X.
Thornton, a retired aerospace engineer, holds a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics engineering. In 2022 he was the GOP nominee for Lt. Governor of New Mexico. He is currently an entrepreneur with the GRANT Energy & Water Group and previously held senior leadership roles at Sandia National Laboratories and Lockheed Martin.
Thornton won the general election for New Mexico State Senate District 19 on Nov. 5, defeating Democrat William Burton Scott with 56.8% of the vote.
