New Mexico Republican Party HQ set on fire, graffitied 'ICE=KKK'

(Reuters) - The headquarters of the Republican Party of New Mexico was set on fire on Sunday and "ICE=KKK" spray painted on the building in what the party called "a deliberate act of arson."

Fire officials in Albuquerque, the largest city in Democratic-controlled New Mexico, were called to the blaze around 6 am and put it out in five minutes.

The single-story structure suffered damage to its entryway and smoke damage throughout, Albuquerque Fire Rescue said on social media.

The FBI said it was leading the investigation to find the "culprit(s) responsible," a spokeswoman for the agency said in a statement.

The fire comes after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it arrested 48 illegal immigrants, 20 of them with criminal convictions, during raids in Albuquerque, state capital Santa Fe and Roswell, New Mexico earlier this month.

The graffiti appeared to equate the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan hate group to ICE, the agency President Donald Trump has tasked to deport millions of illegal immigrants.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Our state leaders must reinforce through decisive action that these cowardly attacks will not be tolerated," Republican Party of New Mexico Chairwoman Amy Barela said in a statement.

The Democratic Party of New Mexico said it condemned the "vandalism" of the Republican Party headquarters.

"We firmly maintain that this sort of act has absolutely no place in our democracy," the state Democratic Party said on social media. "We hope whoever is responsible is found and held accountable."

The fire follows the conviction this month of a failed Republican candidate for the New Mexico House of Representatives who carried out drive-by shootings on the Albuquerque homes of Democratic officials during 2022 and 2023.

(Reporting By Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Saad Sayeed)