New Mexico legislator launches interactive map to report ICE activity

State Rep. Marianna Anaya believes a legislator’s job isn’t just to make laws. Sometimes, she says, lawmakers need to take action to encourage everyone — members of law enforcement included — to follow them.

Anaya, D-Albuquerque, said on Thursday that is the motivation behind her new website, aguas-nm.com, which she launched this week to allow people to report U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity using an interactive map.

The new website allows anyone to make an anonymous report of ICE activity, which is often difficult to verify since immigration agents can wear plainclothes and masks and travel in unmarked vehicles. Users can upload a description of alleged activity, as well as photos and videos.

Every entry is logged as “unverified” until Anaya’s staff can confirm it through a “community partner,” the legislator said.

As of Thursday evening, five entries had been logged — three in Albuquerque, one in Socorro and one in Las Cruces, none of which had been verified.

Anaya said she and her staff began conceptualizing the website a few months ago as the Trump administration carried out its unprecedented deportation effort, which has at times swept up American citizens in its dragnet.

“We have a lot of people who do have documentation, who do have status in this country, who are U.S. citizens, who are being detained,” Anaya said. “And so for me, it was really important to make sure that our community was able to document these things.”

The website contains a lengthy disclaimer on its homepage, describing aguas-nm.com as a “community resource for information purposes only,” as well as a resource section with a link to the New Mexico Immigration Law Center.

“We welcome efforts that make information and resources more accessible to immigrant and mixed-status communities,” a spokesperson from the Law Center said in a statement. “Access to accurate and reliable information is essential for families to make informed decisions about their safety and rights.”

Anaya, who was elected last year, said she wants to be clear that the website isn’t meant to interfere with ICE activity or immigration laws. She said it’s also not meant to endanger or thwart officers in the course of duty.

“This is a documentation tool for things that have happened in the past and not things that are happening in real time,” she said. “And so to me, that’s the distinction. I think someone could argue that TikTok could do the same thing, that any sort of live streaming platform could do the same thing.”

House Republican Leader Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, condemned Anaya’s new cyber initiative on Wednesday in a statement that said she had “crossed a line.”

“Launching a website to monitor and report ICE operations endangers officers, compromises investigations, and could obstruct federal law,” according to the statement. “New Mexico is already battling drug trafficking and illegal border activity, and we don’t need lawmakers helping criminals hide from accountability. This is what happens when far-left politics come before public safety.

Armstrong said lawmakers “have a duty to protect New Mexicans, not to undermine those who are sworn to enforce federal law.”