The speaker of Texas’s house of representatives says he is entertaining the idea of expanding the state by annexing some New Mexico counties.
Dustin Burrows, who has been the chamber’s speaker since 2025, ordered a state legislative committee on 26 March to look into the legal and economic options to add “one or more contiguous counties” of New Mexico to the state of Texas.
The office of the New Mexico governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, and some of her fellow state Democratic politicians summarily dismissed the idea, with Lujan Grisham’s office saying it is “not a serious proposal”.
Burrows set off the controversy by issuing an order to establish a new committee to study whether counties in the south-eastern part of New Mexico could be annexed.
For years, south-eastern New Mexico counties have pointed to political differences between themselves and the state’s capital, Democratic-led Santa Fe.
In January, representatives from one of those counties, Lea county, introduced a legislative amendment that would allow voters to decide to secede from the state. Lea county has claimed that cultural and political differences with Santa Fe make it more apt to join Texas.
When that amendment was introduced, Burrows publicly supported the idea, posting on social media that “Texas would gladly welcome Lea county back to Texas, where it rightfully belongs”.
In the 1830s, when Texas seceded from Mexico and briefly became an independent country, it also took much of what is modern-day New Mexico under its dominion.
The pro-secession amendment proposed in New Mexico has since been “postponed indefinitely”.
Burrows’ proposal from 26 March formed a legislative committee tasked with studying “the constitutional, statutory, fiscal, and economic implications of adding to Texas one or more contiguous counties of New Mexico”.
Javier Martínez, the Democratic speaker of New Mexico’s house of representatives, was among politicians in his state to criticize Burrows’ proposal, which called to mind the rhetoric Donald Trump has pushed throughout his second presidency of annexing Greenland for the US.
“I suggest that Speaker Burrows get offline, touch some grass, and get his own house in order,” Martinez said. “I am certain Texans would much rather see their elected leaders come up with real solutions to the soaring healthcare, grocery, and energy prices brought on by the reckless actions of … Trump and his Republican friends in Washington DC. We’re good.”
In another statement published by the news station KOAT in Albuquerque, a gubernatorial spokesperson also dismissed Burrows’ push.
“We have every intention of keeping the great state of New Mexico fully intact,” said Michael Coleman, the communications director for Lujan Grisham. “This is not a serious proposal, but Texas can study it all they want.”
