As a former NM resident, I have come to the conclusion that if the USA was the Galactic Republic, New Mexico would be Tattoine.
Wait, Tattooine wasn't a bad place. Sure, it was full of liars, thieves, smugglers, knee-cappers, cheats and all-around bad guys, and they had their own space port, but they all served a purpose, which was to do their level best to live outside the clutches of the Empire.
In NM, they do all that while embracing the expansion of the empire.