Dozens gather in Las Cruces as part of coordinated campaign ahead of next year’s legislative session.

Leah Romero, Source New Mexico

This article was originally published by Source New Mexico.

Dozens of New Mexico State University students and statewide organizers rallied against hyperscale AI data centers in Las Cruces Sunday, calling for a statewide ban against the developers. 

NMSU students from Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA) gathered on the university’s main campus alongside other environmental and political advocacy organizations, as well as local and state elected officials and southern Doña Ana County residents impacted by the AI data center known as Project Jupiter. 

The rally followed a three-day meeting of organizers from across New Mexico aimed at training organizers and creating a coordinated campaign against data centers and related policy ahead of the 2027 legislative session in January.

“Together we really are stronger than separately, and I think being together in person here in Las Cruces was a great way to see that,” YUCCA member Alex Atcitty told the crowd. He said AI and data centers are “extractors” that take more from the state and its communities than they give back, and are creating a crisis in New Mexico that requires more than a moratorium. “We are trying to be uncompromising with our rejection of AI. We do not want to stop halfway with guardrails or honestly even a moratorium. We want to push for a ban,” Atcitty said. 

Stop Project Jupiter organizer Lennie Dupass, a first-year NMSU student studying criminal justice, said he has followed the development of Project Jupiter since the Doña Ana County Commission voted to approve up to $165 billion in Industrial Revenue Bonds to help fund the data center in September 2026. He said he stayed for seven hours to hear the community provide public comment on the vote, which commissioners should have taken to mean the issue required more review.

“Our local government does not work for us…They made it abundantly clear that the only people I could place my trust in were my fellow community members,” Dupass said during the rally. “We know what New Mexico is worth. Our state has been used for decades solely for its resources, but our value is not determined by how much can be taken from us.”

Dupass told Source NM that he supports Daisy Maldonado, democratic candidate for Doña Ana County Commission’s District 1, and that she is a “turning point” for the commission this election cycle. 

“We’re cautious of our public officials and cautious of our government at this point,” he said, adding that he has never worked closer with government and politics than he is now. “I’m super confident that she can win this and I know it’s definitely going to change some things for us.”

YUCCA officials said the group is organizing and participating in student walkouts and community protests against data centers across the state on Tuesday as well. YUCCA Communications Manager Sophie LaBorwit told Source NM that University of New Mexico students plan to march down Central Avenue in Albuquerque to U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich’s office to protest the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, which protestors argued Sunday will rollback environmental protections. New Mexico School for the Arts students also will lead a protest to the Roundhouse in Santa Fe on Tuesday, while NMSU students and community members will gather at the Plaza de Las Cruces.

Leah Romero is a freelance writer based in southern New Mexico. She can be reached at www.LeahRRomero.com.