Common Ground Community Trust

10/19/2026

Washington is letting AI decide what you don't get to see.

The Washington Post reports that Homeland Security will use AI to recommend redactions on roughly 100,000 to 140,000 FOIA requests. Last fiscal year, DHS released records with no redactions in just 2.3% of the requests it processed. Another 40% ended with "no records."

AI makes those answers faster. It doesn't make them more honest.

New Mexico is heading the same way. Our IPRA Task Force recommended public grants for redaction software with no standards attached. There's no public list of AI tools, no rule requiring human review, and no way to challenge what the machine blacks out. A New Mexico product already markets AI tools for IPRA requests and says New Mexico was its first jurisdiction.

I compared the federal system with what New Mexico is about to fund, and laid out nine safeguards the Legislature should require before spending a dollar.

New Mexico is buying the tools without the guardrails.

https://elainecimino652909.substack.com/p/ai-redaction-comes-for-ipra-the-national?r=281p2&utm_medium=ios

Washington is letting AI pick the black boxes. New Mexico's task force wants to buy the same tools without the guardrails.

10/18/2026

Report on the Final IPRA Task Force Report
If these amendments don’t get in there then vote it down or stall it in committee. This will be detrimental for citizens and groups accessing informatio. As I have documented for the past year.

The NM DOJ Final IPRA report buys software and skips enforcement. There ain’t no sunshine for citizens.

10/17/2026

10/17/2026

Cheers PS22

10/17/2026

New Mexico signed a solid contract with a private tech company, Securin. It says the work stays in the U.S., the State can audit, and the contractor must help produce public records. Nobody has shown the public that any of it is enforced. Securin's own data addendum describes support access from India. The written state exception that would require has not been produced.
I know what happens when you ask the State to show its work. Over the past year, asking for Project Ranger records got me:
• Called a "habitual reporter" by NMED, with orders to close my complaint immediately
• Told by the State Engineer it knew nothing about the project, though its own records say otherwise
• A State Land Office archive I couldn't open
• Three Sandoval County requests answered with a court citation, a "records located" notice, and then silence
• An Ethics Commission case number, then a phone call saying the case was closed, and a refusal to put the closure in writing
Now the IPRA Task Force wants to fund more records software. It leaves enforcement, "no responsive records" standards and retaliation unaddressed.
A contract is a promise. Control is the power to make it true. Read the full essay, with the records and case numbers:

The State bought the software. It never bought the power to hold anyone accountable. New Mexico signed the promises. Nobody is enforcing them, and residents who ask get a case number and a closed file.

10/15/2026

The problems kept recurring. NMED labeled and prejudged the advocate.

I reported water leaks, fugitive dust and infrastructure failures at Castelion’s Project Ranger because they kept happening. An internal NMED email called me a “habitual reporter” and directed staff to “close out immediately.” The next day, NMED told EPA staff would investigate.

After reviewing 270 released files, major questions remain about air authorization, static-fire emissions, hazardous materials, waste and transportation. Hundreds of additional records were excluded from this release as previously provided.

My persistence is not the environmental problem. The recurring conditions and unanswered questions are.

Read the article and examine the documented findings. Our community deserves answers, public participation and meaningful enforcement.

Project Ranger’s unresolved permitting and environmental questions deserve scrutiny. Instead, an internal email called me a “habitual reporter” and directed immediate complaint closure.