Two competing bills have been filed in the New Mexico Legislature regarding the use of local resources in aiding federal immigration enforcement. Senate Bill 250, sponsored by Sen. Cindy Nava, aims to block any local resources from being used to enforce federal immigration laws. Nava, a DACA recipient, believes that federal immigration law does not pertain to the state and wants to prevent the use of local resources to identify or detain individuals based on suspicion of illegal entry.
In contrast, Senate Bill 87 would make it illegal for the block in SB 250 to exist and would allow local resources to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law. The Republican sponsors of SB 87 did not respond to inquiries about the bill. This proposal comes after the Republican Party of New Mexico established an immigration tip line for reporting suspicions of undocumented individuals.
States like Florida and Georgia have similar policies to SB 87, while the Trump Administration recently sued Chicago over its sanctuary laws, which resemble SB 250. Albuquerque and Santa Fe have already declared they will not cooperate with mass deportations. Both bills are recommended for the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee with no hearing date set yet. The debate over which bill will ultimately be passed reflects the larger national conversation around immigration enforcement and local cooperation with federal authorities.
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