Las Cruces activist arrested after coming to county meeting in disguise

LAS CRUCES — A local activist who is suing Doña Ana County over its approval of financing for the data center known as Project Jupiter was removed from the county building in handcuffs during a county commissioners' meeting Tuesday.

Derrick Pacheco, 42, was arrested minutes after he appeared in a disguise consisting of wayfarer-style sunglasses, a cap and a fake mustache. Security guards flanked him immediately as he held his mobile phone up to film a spectacle with himself at the center.

Pacheco was banned from the building after a confrontation with a county official last week that led to Pacheco also being barred from board meetings.

“An individual under an active trespass notice (delivered via both email and certified mail) entered the chambers,” the county said in a statement about Tuesday's incident. “Security requested that the individual leave in accordance with the notice; however, he refused.”

Pacheco was arrested by sheriff’s deputies and booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, resisting or obstructing law enforcement and criminal trespass. On Wednesday, he pleaded not guilty to the charges in county magistrate court and was released on an unsecured bond ahead of a pretrial hearing set for March. 

As of Wednesday afternoon, Pacheco was not represented by an attorney.

Trespass notice

Pacheco maintains he was battered during a brief dispute while commissioners were conducting a work session on Jan. 6.

During the meeting, Pacheco roamed the center aisle, recording video on his mobile phone and approaching the dais.

In a 20-second clip Pacheco posted to social media, Assistant County Manager Stephen Lopez could be seen whispering to Pacheco, “Excuse me, you need to please step back into the audience area.” Pacheco replied, “Sorry,” and appeared to move toward a seat that Lopez said was reserved for reporters. 

“I’m media,” Pacheco whispered. “No, you’re not,” Lopez answered. As Pacheco continued to argue the point, Lopez covered the camera lens with his hand. The video then cut to a wide shot of the room from a corner regularly designated as a staging area for television crews at the back of the chambers.

“Mr. Lopez touched my phone, hitting the power button and interfering with my right to film an open meeting in progress,” Pacheco told the Journal prior to Tuesday’s meeting. “He also touched both (of my) hands and arms as he tried to take my phone away and actually briefly fully possessed my phone, to my best recollection.” 

Pacheco said he filed a police report over the incident.

On Friday, the county issued a written trespass notice forbidding his presence anywhere on the county government center campus, except by scheduling an appointment to conduct official government business such as corporate filings, voting or paying taxes.

The letter, signed by County Manager Scott Andrews and provided to the Journal, alleges that Pacheco engaged in numerous incidents since September, including disruptions at public meetings, following individuals out of the meeting hall while filming them and refusing to be seated or record from designated areas.

Pacheco has been a vocal opponent of public financing for the data center, which began construction in Santa Teresa in September after the commissioners approved industrial revenue bonds and state-funded tax incentives to support the project. In October, Pacheco filed a civil administrative appeal in state district court seeking a review of the commissioners’ action. 

The county is seeking dismissal of the petition. The case is pending.

Pacheco has involved himself in numerous local causes in recent years and has frequently filmed conversations and arguments with public officials and published them on YouTube or Vimeo.

Removal and arrest

On Tuesday, Pacheco stood in line to offer public comment when uniformed security surrounded him. Chairman Manuel Sanchez, presiding at the commissioners’ first meeting of 2026, called for a recess as Sheriff Kim Stewart personally spoke to him, presented him with what appeared to be a hard copy of the trespass notice and contended with him for several minutes.

Pacheco refused to accept the document and demanded it be read to him before proceeding to shout about Martin Luther King Jr. and Renee Good, the woman shot to death in Minneapolis last week by an ICE officer. At that point, officers marched him out of the chambers.

After his removal, several citizens offering public comments in opposition to Project Jupiter objected to Pacheco’s removal on First Amendment grounds. One resident, identifying herself as Esperanza, said, “I don’t necessarily agree with all the tactics that Derrick Pacheco takes, but as far as I’ve seen in these meetings, he’s filming, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

Algernon D'Ammassa is the Journal's southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.