Las Cruces is a city in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,267, making it the second largest city in the state. Las Cruces is the center of an agricultural region irrigated by the Rio Grande, which flows through the city. Las Cruces is also the home of New Mexico State University. NMSU is New Mexico's only land-grant institution, citing more than 23,000 graduate and undergraduate students on the main campus and four branch campuses. The Organ Mountains are to the east of the city. Las Cruces has a mayor-council form of government with a city manager. It is the county seat of Doña Ana County^GR6.

Las Cruces is also home to the annual Whole Enchilada Fiesta. The fiesta's main attraction is the creation of a very large (on average 10 feet in diameter) flat red enchilada by local restaurant owner Roberto Estrada. Besides this, the fiesta offers live music, rides, food vendors, and other attractions typical of fairs. In fact, the Southern New Mexico State Fair is usually held only a few days after the end of the Whole Enchilada Fiesta. The fiesta's mascot, "Twefie"(taken from the abbreviation of the fiesta's name) is a large red chile pepper wearing a sombrero. At the 2004 event, the Guinness Book of Records confirmed that Estrada had made the world's largest flat enchilada. (There was a pre-existing record for world's longest rolled enchilada, but not for world's largest flat enchilada.)