Posts by Molly Montgomery, Searchlight New Mexico

New Mexico is the second-largest oil producer in the U.S., behind Texas. Drawing immense wealth from the Permian Basin, the state relies on a workforce — often Latino men — who are subjected to harrowing conditions that lead to death, injury, disease and terrible tolls on mental health and family life. This story was originally…

This story was originally published at Searchlight New Mexico, a NMPBS partner. A week ago, on orders from the Trump administration, federal officials began firing thousands of employees at agencies including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Energy, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and…