Immigration attorneys file complaint about ICE raids in NM

SANTA FE — Earlier this month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 48 undocumented immigrants in New Mexico. Immigrant rights advocates and attorneys still don’t know the names or locations of those individuals.

A coalition of advocacy groups held a news conference Monday morning at the Capitol to announce a complaint the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over the weekend regarding the arrests and lack of information.

They also urged state legislators to pass two immigration-related bills, one that would end civil immigration detainment in New Mexico, House Bill 9, and another barring the use of state resources for the enforcement of federal immigration arrests or detainment, Senate Bill 250.

ICE, along with other federal agencies like the FBI, in early March held a weeklong “enhanced enforcement operation” in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Roswell, resulting in the arrests of 48 immigrants in the country unlawfully, 20 of whom had criminal charges or convictions, according to ICE.

On March 16, ACLU-NM interim executive director Leon Howard and senior staff attorney Rebecca Sheff filed a complaint, which the ACLU shared with the Journal, about the operation to the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, both of which are under the purview of DHS.

The complaint included four requests: an investigation into the 48 arrests; ensuring the physical and psychological well-being of the arrested individuals; ensuring the arrested individuals are not retaliated against as a result of the complaint; and pursuing accountability for all involved personnel and contractors.

“We don’t know what’s happened to these four dozen New Mexicans. They’ve effectively disappeared,” Sheff said at the news conference.

She said advocacy organizations — ACLU-NM, Somos un Pueblo Unido and New Mexico Immigrant Law Center — haven’t encountered the unnamed 48 individuals in the ICE detention facilities in New Mexico and are unsure if the arrested immigrants are still in the U.S. She said DHS hadn’t notified ACLU that it had received the complaint, as the complaint requested, as of Monday morning.

Twenty-one of the arrested individuals have final orders of removal, according to ICE.

“These arrests exemplify the type of criminals living among us and highlight ICE’s commitment to our agency’s primary mission — protect public safety,” said Mary De Anda-Ybarra, enforcement and removal operations field office director in El Paso, in a statement on March 12.

ICE didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from the Journal asking for the names and detainment locations of the arrested individuals or, alternatively, a reason for the anonymity.

Meanwhile, legislative efforts related to immigration rights are inching along in the Roundhouse. But with less than a week left in the session, time is running out to get bills to the governor’s desk.

House Bill 9, the Immigrant Safety Act, is waiting for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee and has already passed the House. Senate Bill 250, prohibiting state agencies from using resources to enforce federal immigration laws, is sitting on the Senate calendar and still needs to pass the House of Representatives.

Despite the looming Saturday session deadline, advocates noted that there’s still time.

“People in our community are gone,” said Marcela Díaz, founding executive director of Somos un Pueblo Unido. “Workers are gone. Family members are gone. Neighbors are gone. ... We have to be more bold in protecting our communities.”