The Santa Fe American Civil Liberties Union seeks legislation that would protect immigrants in New Mexico.
Santa Fe ACLU board member Rachel Feldman wrote a report that examines policies implemented by jurisdictions statewide that prohibit their employees, including law enforcement, from disclosing a person’s immigration status, even to federal officials.
According to the study, large cities such as Albuquerque already have such policies in the book, but rural cities and counties do not.
Feldman wrote that a lack of policy in most of the state and many inconsistent and conflicting policies across the state results in unequal treatment of the state’s residents and visitors.
The ACLU recently reported that the Trump administration separated 1,556 more immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border than has previously been disclosed to the public, according to the Washington Post.
New Mexico’s federal court system is currently overwhelmed. Bench vacancies and an ever-growing immigrant case load have prompted judges from other states to intervene.
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