ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The Republican nominee for a New Mexico congressional seat suggested during a radio interview that the United States could place land mines along the Mexican border to secure the international boundary.

Asked Monday to clarify, Tom Mullins emphasized that he does not advocate doing so.

Mullins says border security came up during a radio interview last month, when he was campaigning for the GOP nod to run against Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M.

Mullins subsequently won the primary June 1.

In the May 18 interview with KNMX radio in Las Vegas, N.M., Mullins says the U.S. could mine the border, install barbed wire and post signs directing would-be border jumpers to cross legally at designated checkpoints.

He explained Monday it was a suggestion he'd heard while campaigning.