ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — DOGE and Elon Musk received applause from one side of the gallery, and a lot of boos from the other during Tuesday night’s joint address of President Donald Trump to Congress.

Whether one supports what DOGE is doing or not, the actions being taken are confusing and controversial to some.

That confusion and controversy has traveled to the Land of Enchantment.

The DOGE website lists thousands of federal contracts and grants that are to be cut. It also lists thousands of federal leases that are now on the chopping block.

KOB 4 News found 15 New Mexico buildings on the list of leases to be cut. The buildings are scattered around the state, with two of them being in Albuquerque.

One of the leases is a U.S. Forest Service building. KOB 4 News matched the location through tax records and property size listed on the DOGE website.

The lease is listed as “terminated via mass mod” which means the change was part of a revision to multiple contracts at once, and other terminations were cited as a need for consolidation.

The Forest Service has also been part of widespread layoffs, including ones in New Mexico.

KOB 4 News reached out to the Forest Service Wednesday, and a spokesperson did not confirm the building is on the block, give a termination timeline, or how many people could be impacted.

The spokesperson sent the following statement:

“Secretary Rollins fully supports the President’s directive to improve government, eliminate inefficiencies and strengthen USDA’s many services to the American people. We have a solemn responsibility to be good stewards of the American people’s hard-earned taxpayer dollars and to ensure that every dollar spent goes to serve the people, not the bureaucracy. As part of this effort, USDA has made the difficult decision to release about 2,000 probationary, non-firefighting employees from the Forest Service. To be clear, none of these individuals were operational firefighters. Released employees were probationary in status, many of whom were compensated by temporary IRA funding. It’s unfortunate that the Biden administration hired thousands of people with no plan in place to pay them long term. Secretary Rollins is committed to preserving essential safety positions and will ensure that critical services remain uninterrupted.” 

Also on the list, is an Albuquerque General Services Administration building.

GSA acts as the government’s office manager; it manages all government buildings and real estate.

KOB 4 News requested information about the GSA Albuquerque building losing its lease. A spokesperson sent the following statement:

“Acting Administrator Ehikian’s vision for GSA includes reducing our deferred maintenance liabilities, supporting the return to office of federal employees, and taking advantage of a stronger private/government partnership in managing the workforce of the future.

“GSA is reviewing all options to optimize our footprint and building utilization. A component of our space consolidation plan will be the termination of many soft term leases. To the extent these terminations affect public facing facilities and/or existing tenants, we are working with our agency partners to secure suitable alternative space.”

KOB 4 news recently spoke with congressman Gabe Vasquez about DOGE lease cuts.

Vasquez said the cuts have the potential to create dangerous situations.

“These cuts aren’t just unpredictable, they’re irresponsible,” he said. “We’ve seen a one-size-fits-all approach to cutting government, leases, jobs, funding freezes that are impacting ranchers and farmers across our district, impacting mothers, impacting veterans, impacting service providers that deliver food to families.”

Still on the list as of Wednesday evening is the Skeen-Whitlock Building. It is the DOE oversight building for the Carlsbad WIPP.

Tuesday the Carlsbad mayor gave KOB 4 News a statement saying it was a miscommunication and the lease remains intact.

KOB 4 News reached out again today to the Carlsbad WIPP facility and a spokesperson there said she is waiting for official word from the main office before providing any more information.

KOB 4 News will continue to follow this story as more information becomes available.