Damien Willis

Las Cruces Sun-News

LAS CRUCES - Former President Bill Clinton on Thursday addressed an energized crowd of about 500 Hillary Clinton supporters at Picacho Middle School in Las Cruces. In a speech tailored to the needs of southern New Mexicans, Clinton addressed immigration, student debt, education, veterans’ issues and the importance of affordable childcare.

Throughout the rally, Clinton never mentioned the names of his wife’s opponents, and never uttered a line that elicited boos from the crowd. Instead, he spoke against what he called “the politics of personal destruction.”

On one occasion, Clinton reflected on his many visits to Las Cruces.

“I first came here almost 30 years ago,” Clinton said. “I was governor of Arkansas, and the chancellor of our state university became president of New Mexico State. So I came to his inauguration. Then I came back in 1996, and I was the first sitting president since William Howard Taft to come to Las Cruces.”

An excited crowd awaits

At Thursday’s rally, no protesters of any stripe could be found. Waiting in line two hours before the start of the speech, an estimated 500 supporters waited for doors to open. Overhead, the sign at the school scrolled, “Welcome to Picacho Middle School President Clinton.”

Rosalinda Carreon Altamirano, a retired teacher who taught for nearly 40 years and a Hillary Clinton supporter, said she was excited to see the former president.

“I’m glad that he is out here campaigning on behalf of his wife,” Altamirano said. “I want for Hillary to win, because she will be the first U.S. President that is a woman. When Bill ran for president, we worked his campaign and I supported him and I support Hillary. She often speaks about early childhood and women’s rights. As a former early childhood educator, I know how important it is to start early with those children.”

Altamirano said she hoped to hear Bill Clinton talk about his wife’s platforms on immigration, education and women’s rights.

Matthew Leahy, of El Paso, traveled to Las Cruces to hear Clinton speak.

“I came to hear President Clinton — someone who was elected a year before I was born,” the 22-year-old said. “I’ve read his autobiography and, from my perspective, I feel like he did great things for our country.”

Leahy hoped to hear Clinton speak about immigration.

“We have a lot of people here who care very deeply about family members,” Leahy said. “I’ve volunteered at a citizenship fair, and have witnessed the people who have worked so hard and given so much already, and they just want to be citizens in return. They work hard, pay taxes and contribute to our local economy. We need someone who not only has great ideas for reform, but can also get it done.”

Frank Duran served in the U.S. Army from 1995 to 2008 — a year and a half of which he served in Iraq. Early in the staff seargent's career, President Clinton was his commander in chief. Duran showed up Thursday to hear Clinton speak about his wife’s policies affecting veterans.

“I want to see if he’s going to say anything about what Hillary Clinton is going to do to help the veterans,” Duran said. “That’s mainly what I want to hear. I’d like to hear plans for more doctors, more nurses. There are a lot of veterans, and wait times are ridiculously long. Something has to be done to address that.”

Azadeh Osanloo called Bill Clinton one of her longtime heroes.

“Education is my top issue, as a professor of education,” Osanloo said. “I’d like to hear a plan to deal with this binationality we have here on the border, and how we’re going to better educate our kids for a more civically-minded, democratic, diversity-based world.”

Clinton’s speech

Clinton touched on all of the points the crowd wanted to hear. He outlined his wife’s five-point economic plan for New Mexico, and drew contrasts between Hillary’s plan to address student debt and that of her Democratic primary opponent, Bernie Sanders. He talked about the importance of improving the nation’s infrastructure, including access to broadband internet and safe drinking water.

Bill Clinton outlines economic plan for NM

In addressing immigration reform, Clinton noted that there hasn’t been a net-positive immigration from Mexico since 2010.

“We have 11 1/2 million undocumented people here that are either in school or working,” he said. “And they live with more than five million of your fellow Americans, who wake up every day worried about what’s going to happen to the kids, or whether the adults are going to be separated from the kids. We need to just FIX this.”

Clinton said that veterans would be among Hillary’s top concerns.

“Veterans have access to education and training, but the unemployment rate for returning veterans is still higher than the population as a whole,” Clinton said. “Part of that is that we still don’t have the continuing support that we need for veterans who are good in the workforce, but still occasionally suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome. They need to have that support, so they can go to work and support themselves, and know that we appreciate the work they do.”

Clinton discussed the need for better mental and physical health care for veterans, noting that Hillary was on the Armed Services Committee during 9/11 and is familiar with the needs of veterans.

“We also have too many young people in prison for nonviolent offenses that should be out here in the workforce,” Clinton said. “But look, you can’t just open the prison doors to people who’ve been kept in prison. You’ve got to get them education, training, job placement, and they can’t be discriminated against when they apply for a job. We need these young people back making America stronger so we call all rise together.

Clinton then turned his attention to his wife’s education policies.

“By the way, her education policy is good. She thinks we ought to spend our federal dollars on not quite so much on testing and rule-making, but more on helping teachers be better teachers,” Clinton said to loud applause.

After the rally

“I thought it was amazing,” said Judy Garrett of Las Cruces, leaving the gymnasium. “As a speaker, he is really stumping wonderfully for his wife. He talked about jobs, schools, and about New Mexico being able to grow because we do have so much here. And he talked about our local veterans. I think that he addressed most of what I was listening for.”

Beverly Harrelson of Las Cruces said she was impressed with Clinton’s speech.

“He’s a wonderful speaker, and I thought he did a great job,” Harrelson said. “My only question is where is all of the money going to come from to support all that Hillary wants. I think it’s wonderful and great, and I’d vote for her — but I’d like to know where the money’s going to come from.”

After the rally, Clinton made an unannounced stop at Milagro Coffee, where he visited and took selfies with customers and ordered a smoothie. The president’s appearance came as quite a surprise to the unsuspecting crowd.

He stopped to chat with Jenny Fitzgerald, a wildlife conservationist who lives in Casas Grandes, Mexico.

“How are the conservation programs down there,” Clinton asked her.

“Not good,” she answered. “That’s what we’re working on. It’s very different from the U.S.”

“Well, they’re beginning to build a more complete economy,” Clinton responded. “Normally, that means that people get more concerned about conservation.”

When Fitzgerald told Clinton she was working to reintroduce Mexican gray wolves in Mexico, Clinton responded, “Good for you. Keep it up. When I reintroduced them in Yellowstone, everyone gave me grief for it. Now they all think it was a good idea.”

Later, Clinton settled into the well-worn, red leather sofas at Milagro to take a selfie with a mother and her young daughters.

“I’ve got a grandkid of my own,” he told the Lopez family. “I know the routine.”

Damien Willis may be reached at 575-541-5468, dawillis@lcsun-news.com or @damienwillis on Twitter.