The fallout from a rambunctious public meeting last week on the divisive data center Project Jupiter is escalating.
A private security guard accused of pushing a protester to the ground could be facing criminal charges. A lawsuit appears to be forthcoming from four demonstrators, including two who were arrested during the meeting. And activists are now calling for the Doña Ana County Commission chair’s resignation for limiting public input at the meeting.
Las Cruces lawyer Israel Chávez, who is representing the four demonstrators, said he plans to file a tort claim notice alleging Civil Rights Act violations by Doña Ana County and Security Concepts, the county’s privately contracted security company.
“We believe that they violated my clients’ free speech rights, their rights to protest and access their government, their right to be free from excessive force, their right to be free from wrongful arrest, and the list goes on,” Chávez said. “I am concerned with all of the transparency violations across local governments in southern New Mexico.”
An already raucous meeting, where data center developers were set to give their first direct public update to county commissioners, devolved into shoving July 28 as attendees against the data center protested the end of a curtailed public comment section that mainly featured input from supporters.
A number of protesters streamed to the front of the chambers chanting “Let us speak.” The incident turned physical when deputies and a Security Concepts guard approached the demonstrators. One pushed Abegail Salugsugan, who was later arrested, to the ground. Two other people — one who was involved in the scuffle —were arrested during the meeting.
Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart said in an interview that the Security Concepts guard, who her office identified as Greg Maddox, is being referred to the District Attorney’s Office for the filing of felony assault charges.
The 3rd District District Attorney’s Office has not yet received the referral, according to spokesperson Shelby Montgomery.
Limited public comment
The polarizing Project Jupiter is part of the $500 billion, four-year Stargate initiative to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence for companies like Oracle and OpenAI. Critics say the process behind the data center has been opaque and its pollutants and emissions will harm future generations. Proponents tout its economic impact and job opportunities.
Both sides attended July 28’s meeting. Construction workers in neon vests who had broken ground at the Santa Teresa site were bused in by project developers to provide public comment. They received a paid day off with the option to attend the meeting, according to Daisy Maldonado, a community organizer running for County Commission, who spoke with workers from the site.
Upon starting the meeting, commission Chair Manny Sanchez announced that public input would be capped at 30 people and to two minutes each, first come, first served. Normally, there is no limit on the number of people permitted to speak, and they are given three minutes each.
In an interview Tuesday, Sanchez defended the decision, and said the intent wasn’t to stifle public comment but to save time.
“What we wanted to do was put a little more certainty as to how long we were going on public input so that we could get to the rest of our agenda,” Sanchez said.
Close to 60 people had signed up to comment, Sanchez added.
“[Sanchez] could have simply let the people speak. That was all he needed to do,” said Neeshia Macanowicz, a Las Cruces resident involved in Stop Project Jupiter. “He could have called off the goons. He could have called off the security, and we would have taken up another 30 minutes of their time, and that was it.”
Macanowicz added, the majority of commenters came from El Paso, Juárez and Albuquerque — those from Sunland Park and Santa Teresa, where the data center is being built, did not get the chance to speak.
“Our goal for these commission meetings isn’t at all to suppress the public,” Sanchez said. “… I understand that people want to be heard in public, but it doesn’t mean that’s the only way you can communicate with commissioners.”
In response to calls for his resignation, Sanchez said: “I’m not going to resign, nor am I going to step down as chair this year. … We’ll look at our public input and evaluate how we work to make sure we don’t have a repeat of last week.”
‘Army of security guards’
Stewart told The New Mexican in an interview that she received texts starting at 8:20 a.m. from people within the county chambers concerned about the tense atmosphere at the meeting, which started at 9 a.m.
Upon arriving, Stewart said she was surprised to see “an army of security guards.”
Among those present were a number of officers from Security Concepts, eight plainclothes private security personnel from Oracle, and eventually 10 deputies Stewart called in.
The deputies arrested Orin Parnell earlier in the meeting, then Kiki Garden and Salugsugan on disorderly conduct charges.
Salugsugan’s head was bleeding after the arrest. Stop Project Jupiter wrote in a statement that the injury was because her head was held against the lobby’s tile floor. Salugsugan declined medical treatment, Macanowicz said.
Stewart countered that Salugsugan “threw herself to the ground” in the lobby.
The sheriff’s office also removed Alberto Del Campo and Jovanny Hernandez for disorderly conduct, according to court records. Chávez is representing Garden, Salugsugan, Del Campo and Hernandez.
Stewart said her deputies did not remove everyone that Sanchez asked them to.
”First of all, he’s not the king,” she said. “… I want it clear because it makes us look like secret police or something.”
Stewart added Security Concepts operates outside of the sheriff’s office’s purview: “I do not understand security guards putting their hands on people.”
“I’d really love to know more about this [security] that the county hires, what their training is in excessive force, what their training is in public protest, what their training is in public participation in open meetings,” Chávez said. “… In the same way that my clients are going to be prosecuted for their protest, will the county’s contractors also likewise be prosecuted for their felonious conduct?”
Mike Gonzales, business operation manager at Security Concepts, said Maddox “acted appropriately,” but declined to comment further because of “pending legal actions we’ve been made aware of.”
Sanchez said Maddox is not allowed back in the government center.
Oracle’s private security was notably absent from the altercation.
“Plainclothes security personnel were present solely to support the safety of company representatives. They did not have any physical contact whatsoever, nor did they interact with any community members or protestors,” an Oracle spokesperson wrote in an email. “We have listened, we continue to engage respectfully, and we remain committed to supporting an environment where all New Mexicans can make their voices heard.”
Content of meeting
During the meeting, leaders from STACK Infrastructure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure promised 7,000 jobs at the data center’s peak, committed to an overall state economic impact of $4.7 billion, reiterated that no public drinking water will be used and emphasized the data center’s shift to natural gas fuel cells — which have a lifespan of five to seven years — rather than natural gas turbines.
They also promised to release their first jobs report to the county last week, which would clarify whether the data center is providing career opportunities for locals. The county has yet to provide The New Mexican with a copy of the report.
There are other ongoing debates over transparency in Doña Ana County over Project Jupiter, including a lawsuit about an alleged Open Meetings Act violation by commissioners ahead of their vote to pledge
$165 billion worth of industrial revenue bonds for Project Jupiter, and a different county town hall meeting in June that was rebranded as a job fair for the data center, just seven days before the event was supposed to occur.
“My office is committed to however long it takes holding these local governments accountable for their actions and ensuring that that processes are transparent for the people, because that is who they serve,” Chávez said. “And it appears to me that that local government in Southern New Mexico has forgotten the constituents they serve.”
Project Jupiter still faces regulatory roadblocks, including the yet-to-be-approved natural gas pipeline. The biggest barrier is the project’s air quality permit. A public hearing on the permit was recently moved up to Sept. 14.
