FIRST ON FOX: Vulnerable border Democrat Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., is being slammed for «hypocrisy» in his pro-law enforcement stance after a Black Lives Matter post and interview calling to «deconstruct» and «defund» the police resurfaced.

Vasquez, widely reported as a «moderate Democrat» and a self-described «bipartisan player,» also recently voted against a House resolution expressing support for law enforcement officers and condemning defund the police efforts and sanctuary policies.

With Republicans holding a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, every congressional seat considered competitive is critical to both parties in this midterm election. Vasquez’s New Mexico swing district in particular is considered highly vulnerable and is a top target for the GOP this cycle.

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This week, Vasquez published an opinion piece in the Las Cruces Sun News in which he argued police officers «deserve thanks, support and funding.» In the piece, Vasquez pointed to the funding streams he helped secure for local law enforcement and wrote that «no amount of public recognition can ever fully express the gratitude they deserve.»

However, a National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman said, «Defund the police Gabe Vasquez’s shameless hypocrisy isn’t fooling anyone.»

On June 1, 2020, exactly a week after the death of George Floyd and in the midst of widespread anti-police riots, Vasquez, a Las Cruces city council member at the time, posted on social media, «Black lives matter. Until we deconstruct and rebuild the systems of oppression that keep black people in perpetual harm, justice will not be served.

«That includes law enforcement, the economy, and the disgusting wealth inequality that keeps white rich men in power.»

A 2022 article published by The Washington Free Beacon brought up a local news interview with a masked man resembling Vasquez but named «James Hall» at a 2020 George Floyd protest.

In the interview, the man says, «We need serious police reform in this country,» and «it’s not just about defunding police, it’s about defunding a system that privileges white people over everyone else.» 

The outlet reported that deleted screenshots of social media posts showed Vasquez present at that same rally.

The Free Beacon wrote that a Vasquez spokesperson confirmed he was the man who made those statements, saying, «The name was attributed to him by the news station when he declined to give his name as he wanted the focus to be on the organizers.»

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A defund the police sign (Getty Images)

More recently, during National Police Week last week, Vasquez voted against a resolution expressing support for law enforcement officers. The measure praised police officers’ service and sacrifice, condemned «defund the police» rhetoric, criticized sanctuary city policies and credited Trump-era «law and order» policies with helping reduce violent crime.

Democrats argued the resolution was overly partisan and politicized.

This week, Vasquez published an opinion piece in which he detailed recent visits with local law enforcement leaders and wrote, «I will always stand with our law enforcement officers.»

He also touted a $250,000 cutout he secured for the Carlsbad Police Department, as well as a $1.06 million investment for Albuquerque’s Real Time Crime Center and a $500,000 investment for technology and training upgrades at the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.

Vasquez emphasized in his column that, «in addition to our thanks and admiration, they also need and deserve resources, investments, and funding.»

A Vasquez campaign spokesperson responded to the new criticisms by telling Fox News Digital, «If you want to know where Vasquez stands on public safety, look at the receipts.

«This year alone, Vasquez singlehandedly brought $1.8 million home for local police departments from Albuquerque to Carlsbad to pay for technology, station upgrades and facilities for more officers to keep themselves and New Mexicans safe.»

The campaign also pointed to a recent speech Vasquez delivered on the House floor honoring Doña Ana County Deputy Sheriff Antonio Aleman, who was killed in the line of duty in 2025. 

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GOP congressional candidate Greg Cunningham, left, pictured next to a «Latinos for Trump» sign. (Fox News; Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

His critics, however, believe his prior statements will come back to haunt him in November.

Richardson told Fox News Digital «New Mexicans know Vasquez is firmly anti-law enforcement, which is why they’ll elect long-time Albuquerque Police Officer Greg Cunningham to replace him this fall.»

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A Marine veteran and 20-year New Mexico law enforcement officer, Cunningham is running unopposed in the GOP primary for the seat.

In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, Cunningham asserted that Vasquez «wants New Mexicans to forget who he really is.»

«He spent years parroting the same anti-police rhetoric that gutted morale and hollowed out departments across this country. Now, six months out from an election, he writes a love letter to law enforcement and hopes nobody remembers the rest,» he said.

«I remember. So do the officers I served alongside for years on the streets of Albuquerque. I know what it’s like to work a drug case at three in the morning. I know what these drugs are doing to New Mexico families, because I spent my career going after the people pushing them. And I know the difference between a politician who shows up for a Police Week photo op and a leader who has his officers’ backs the other 51 weeks of the year.»

He added that «when I get to Washington, the men and women wearing the badge in NM-02 will finally have something they have not had in this seat. One of their own.»

Un espray fabricado a partir de melaza, el jarabe oscuro y espeso que queda como residuo del proceso de refinamiento de la caña de azúcar, consiguió reducir el mal aliento y las bacterias dañinas en la boca de perros domésticos.

Se trata de un aerosol desarrollado por científicos de China, quienes publicaron los resultados en Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry de los Estados Unidos.

El producto, elaborado con polifenoles —compuestos naturales con propiedades antibacterianas presentes en muchas plantas— demostró resultados tanto inmediatos como sostenidos tras un mes de uso diario en animales con halitosis, el término científico para el mal aliento.

Los investigadores a cargo del estudio fueron Hongye Li, Yin Fei y Wei Zhao, de la Universidad de Jiangnan, en China, con financiamiento del Programa Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo de China.

El olor en la boca de los perros no es solo una molestia para las personas que están cerca: puede ser señal de enfermedad oral. Las clínicas veterinarias suelen tratar este problema con cepillado diario, antibióticos o enjuagues químicos, opciones que no siempre resultan fáciles de aplicar en casa.

El equipo de Li buscó una alternativa más accesible y sostenible, con origen en un subproducto agrícola de bajo costo y amplia disponibilidad. “Nuestro objetivo fue investigar si un subproducto agrícola sostenible podía mejorar de forma segura la salud oral diaria”, dijo Li en un comunicado oficial de la Sociedad Estadounidense de Química.

El equipo reclutó 10 perros domésticos sanos con mal aliento, con el consentimiento previo de sus tutores, y les aplicó el espray con polifenoles extraídos de la melaza directamente en la boca. Una hora después, evaluadores entrenados no detectaron olor desagradable en ninguno de los animales.

El análisis de las muestras de saliva mediante cromatografía de gases–espectrometría de masas —una técnica que identifica y mide sustancias químicas presentes en una muestra— confirmó que compuestos como ésteres, aminas y aldehídos, todos responsables del mal olor, habían desaparecido o quedado en niveles indetectables.

“El espray tiene un olor suave, similar al de las plantas y a la melaza, pero no es fuerte ni desagradable”, dijo Li.

Para evaluar el efecto a largo plazo, los perros recibieron el espray a diario durante 30 días. Al cabo de ese período, su saliva presentó niveles más bajos de aldehídos y ésteres de ácidos grasos de cadena corta, sustancias producidas por bacterias patógenas que generan olores grasos.

El microbioma oral —la comunidad de microorganismos que vive en la boca— también mostró cambios: las proporciones de bacterias asociadas al mal aliento, como Porphyromonas y Fusobacterium, bajaron de forma notable tras el tratamiento.

Experimentos adicionales en laboratorio y simulaciones computacionales permitieron al equipo describir con mayor precisión cómo actúan los polifenoles.

“Primero, los polifenoles actúan como una ‘esponja molecular’, y se unen directamente a las moléculas de mal olor existentes para neutralizarlas. Segundo, actúan como un ‘interruptor’ para apagar enzimas bacterianas específicas que producen olores desagradables. Finalmente, trabajan como un ‘jardinero’ para eliminar con el tiempo las poblaciones de bacterias causantes del mal olor”, afirmó.

Los investigadores señalaron que el método es múltiple, sostenible y seguro, y que su aplicación puede mejorar la convivencia entre los perros y sus familias. El tamaño de la muestra —10 perros— indica que se trata de una investigación preliminar.

El equipo tiene previsto ampliar las pruebas con más animales para confirmar y extender los resultados obtenidos.

In November 2017, Chief Petty Officer Kenton Stacy was injured in Raqqa, Syria, while clearing the second floor of a hospital that ISIS had booby-trapped with explosives. 

Now a quadriplegic, Stacy, his wife Lindsey and their four children are part of a lawsuit brought by military families against the French cement company Lafarge, which was recently found guilty by a French court of paying millions of dollars in bribes to ISIS to keep its factory open in ISIS-controlled territory in Syria.

«I mean, they were essentially funneling money to fund terrorists and ISIS and all these heinous crimes and evil acts,» Lindsey Stacy told Fox News while standing by the side of her husband, the former Navy explosives ordnance disposal (EOD) specialist, who just had another surgery to deal with injuries sustained in Syria nine years ago.

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«It’s very overwhelming. Kenton struggles mentally and physically with his own battles, and the kids and I, we have our own struggles,» she said. «It’s hard to juggle, especially when our oldest son has cerebral palsy, and he requires his own 24-7 care.»

President Donald Trump praised Stacy’s service to the nation in his 2018 State of the Union Address to Congress. Army Staff Sgt. Justin Peck bounded into a booby-trapped building to rescue Kenton and then gave him more than two hours of CPR while medics worked to save his life.

«Kenton Stacy would have died if not for Justin’s selfless love for a fellow warrior. Tonight, Kenton is recovering in Texas. Raqqa is liberated. … All of America salutes you,» Trump said.

In a landmark ruling in April, a French court convicted Lafarge, the world’s largest cement manufacturer, of providing material support to a terror group and sentenced its former CEO to six years in prison. Eight former Lafarge employees were found guilty. Lafarge is appealing.

The company acknowledged the court’s finding describing the issue as a «legacy matter,» which was «in flagrant violation of Lafarge’s Code of Conduct.»

Nearly 1,000 plaintiffs, most of them military families, are part of earlier litigation in the Eastern District of New York.

«They were killed, in Syria, by a gruesome terrorist organization that was funded in part by Lafarge. And that’s not an allegation. That is undisputed fact. Lafarge [pleaded] guilty to doing that in 2022,» said Todd Toral, the lawyer from Jenner & Block representing Stacy and about 25 other families.

Toral, who is also a U.S. Marine, is seeking compensation for those families from the $777 million Lafarge paid to the Justice Department as part of the settlement. The Justice Department has had that money since October 2022.

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The Lafarge logo is displayed outside a facility in Paris on Sept. 8, 2017. Lafarge pleaded guilty to paying $17 million to the Islamic State group to keep a plant in Syria open, according to the Justice Department. The charges were announced in federal court in New York City. (Francois Mori/AP)

«I think the ruling by the court in France is significant generally, because it’s the first time in many, many years that a corporation, and not just the corporation, but executives at a corporation have been held to account for their misconduct in aiding terrorism,» Toral said in an interview with Fox News.

To operate in ISIS-controlled areas of Syria, Lafarge paid more than $6.5 million to ISIS from 2013 to 2014 through its Syrian subsidiary to keep production facilities running. The cement produced at its factory in Jalabiya, a factory which was bought for $680 million months before the Syrian uprising began in 2011, was also used for tunnels and bunkers, which helped the terrorist group.

The lawsuit is significant because it marks the first time a company has faced U.S. charges for supporting a terrorist group.

In October 2022, Lafarge settled with the U.S. Justice Department before the French ruling, paying more than $777 million into an asset forfeiture fund currently controlled by the DOJ, funds that are supposed to compensate victims of the ISIS attacks, many of them American Gold Star families like Hailey Dayton, whose father was the first American killed by ISIS in Syria on Thanksgiving Day 2016.

«I was 15 when my dad was killed,» Dayton told Fox News from her home in Florida. «I saw six guys in Navy white step out of the van. I got so excited because I thought my Dad came back to surprise us. I remember opening the door, huge smile on my face, and I was looking at the men, trying to find my dad and I didn’t find — I didn’t see him. But instead I saw six guys with tears in their eyes.»

The Biden Justice Department denied requests to distribute the Lafarge funds while the case was still pending before a French court. Lafarge was found guilty by that court in April. In February, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., pressed then-Attorney General Pam Bondi on when the DOJ planned to release the funds to the families.

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Lafarge pleaded guilty to paying $17 million to the Islamic State group to keep a plant in Syria open, the Justice Department announced in federal court in New York City on Nov. 14, 2017. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

«In February 2025, my colleagues and I sent you a letter urging the department to review the petitions for remission submitted by the families of those fallen service members, including several of my constituents. The previous administration ignored these victims and our requests and left their petitions unresolved,» Biggs told Bondi during a congressional hearing.

«Congressman, we are aware of that, and we’re committed to doing everything we can to support the victims and work with you. Thank you for that question,» Bondi replied. That was more than a year ago, and the DOJ still has not distributed the compensation funds.

Now the plaintiffs, most of them military families, say the decision to release the funds rests with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

«I don’t know why. I don’t know why they’re ignoring us. To me, it feels like being a pawn. My dad, he went in when he was 19. He served 23 years,» Dayton, the Gold Star daughter of Chief Petty Officer Scott Dayton, said. «To the current Department of Justice, I would say make things right.»

Lindsey Stacy says she and her family have difficulty making ends meet given Kenton Stacy’s severe injuries.

«There’s a lot of families out there that could benefit from these funds. I mean, it’s been almost nine years. It would be nice to, you know, for justice to be served. They have been convicted recently in their own country, guilty. It has been a long battle, but it’d be nice just for it to come to an end, get some closure and be able to just take care of our family,» Stacy added. 

«I mean, he made a huge sacrifice for our country, and it would just be nice if they’d stand right by us and all the other co-plaintiffs.

«We can think of no group of people who are more worthy of receiving compensation from that victim’s compensation fund than these families who lost a son, lost a brother, lost a husband, and they deserve to be treated better by the United States of America,» Toral, who continues to press his clients’ case, said in an interview ahead of Memorial Day weekend.

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The DOJ, which controls the $777 million dollars in penalties forfeited by Lafarge, issued the following statement: 

«The Department is committed to compensating all victims to the maximum extent permitted by law.  While we cannot comment on a pending matter, the department will always engage in the appropriate process to evaluate claims and ensure that our brave service members receive any amount of compensation to which they are entitled.»