New Mexico House Passes Landmark Immigrant Safety Act

SANTA FE, NM – The New Mexico House of Representatives passed the Immigrant Safety Act, House Bill 9, with a vote of 40-29. The passage brings New Mexico one step closer to ending its involvement in the Trump administration's mass detention and deportation system.

The Immigrant Safety Act prohibits state and local governments from entering into agreements to detain individuals for civil immigration violations and stops the use of public land for immigration detention. It also prohibits state and local governments from entering into 287(g) agreements with ICE – agreements that turn local law enforcement into immigration agents and fuel mass deportations.

The legislation promotes trust between local officials and vulnerable community members, like crime victims and domestic violence survivors, by ensuring local law enforcement is not entangled in ICE operations.

New Mexico's three detention centers have a long track record of human rights abuses, including excessive use of solitary confinement, inadequate medical care, lack of clean drinking water and food, and five deaths in custody in recent years.

If the legislation passes and is signed by the governor, New Mexico will join at least eight other states and numerous local jurisdictions across the state, including Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Las Cruces, which have adopted similar protections. The bill now heads to the Senate for committee hearings and a vote.

Quotes from advocates supporting the bill:

“The passage of the Immigrant Safety Act in the House is the direct result of New Mexico residents unequivocally calling on legislators to keep our families together and safe, and rejecting ICE’s campaign of terror,” said Tiffany Wang, a fellow attorney at Innovation Law Lab. “While concerns for the future of our state’s rural communities are real, what we need is bold action to address New Mexicans’ actual needs, not perpetuating economic dependency on private prison corporations that exploit rural workers and harm immigrant families.”

“We applaud the passage of the Immigrant Safety Act through the New Mexico House of Representatives. Through tireless, multiyear advocacy and campaign building by young immigrants of color and allies across New Mexico, we are one step closer to a safer state,” said Jovanny Sebastian Hernandez, campaigns manager at the New Mexico Dream Team. “As the Immigrant Safety Act now heads to the Senate, the New Mexico Dream Team calls upon community members, allies, and all New Mexicans to contact our Senate leadership, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth and Senate President Mimi Stewart to ensure a speedy passage through the Senate, and finally to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham to sign the Immigrant Safety Act into law.”

“I’m honored to be the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, an immigration attorney, and a lifelong New Mexican,” said Jessica Inez Martinez, director of policy and coalition building at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center. “As an immigration attorney, I hear from clients directly about the fear they face every day – parents terrified that a traffic stop could separate them from their children, workers afraid that a mistake in paperwork could cost them everything, and families unsure whether tomorrow will still include each other – people who do everything right yet are still being detained in New Mexico’s detention centers. Passing HB 9 with expanded protections is a necessary step New Mexico must take to do everything it can to protect our communities from a deadly system that is growing more dangerous by the day.”

"We thank the House for passing the Immigrant Safety Act, which protects all New Mexico communities by ending our state's involvement in a detention system that is fundamentally unsafe and violates basic human rights," said Carla Law, policy advocate at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico. "When local law enforcement becomes entangled with ICE, immigrant community members become afraid to report crimes, cooperate with investigations, or seek help in emergencies. This bill ensures all New Mexicans feel safe enough to approach law enforcement without the fear of officers acting as deportation agents. New Mexico has never needed this bill more. We urge the Senate to pass this bill and send it to the governor's desk."

“Today’s vote is about choosing people over profit and safety over fear,” said Berenice Estrada, political director at The Semilla Project. “For immigrant and mixed-status families across New Mexico, the Immigrant Safety Act means being able to live, work, and move through our communities without the constant fear of detention or being torn away from loved ones. It means parents feeling safe enough to take their children to a park, families enjoying our public lands, and young people being able to experience the outdoors without fear hanging over them. Ending our state’s role in ICE detention and 287(g) agreements brings us closer to real public safety – safety rooted in dignity, trust, community care, and the freedom for everyone to connect with the land that sustains us. We urge the Senate to act with urgency and pass HB 9, sending it to the governor’s desk.”

“For the families we serve, HB 9 represents relief and the chance to stay together,” said Deshawnda Chaparro, legal director at Contigo Immigrant Justice. “We see the harm caused when local systems contribute to detention and separation, and we also see the healing that happens when families are reunited. This bill helps prevent unnecessary separations and allows families to engage with courts and law enforcement without fear, strengthening trust and safety across our communities.”

“NM Native Vote is in deep support of HB 9, as the descendants of the original people of this land,” said NM Native Vote Executive Director Ahtza Chavez. “Pueblo and Tribal leaders throughout this continent long welcomed newcomers onto this sacred land. In reality, we are so similar that we too are targeted and detained by ICE. The border crossed us and just like the Oglala Sioux tribe who refused to sign a 287(g) just to access information on their citizens who were wrongly detained. We will not stand idly by while the feds try to assert their cruelty here. In New Mexico we celebrate our cultures, we are about the solidarity between our people. We are about protecting both the Eagle and the Condor. We stand beside our relatives.”

“In rural New Mexico, everyone knows each other. When local law enforcement is pulled into immigration enforcement, it doesn’t just put our families in danger, it breaks trust. We need to stop any incentive by the federal government to our local counties to enter into agreements that destroy the fabric of the well-being of our communities. New Mexico has always believed in taking care of our neighbors, protecting civil rights, and inclusion. The Immigrant Safety Act is about choosing our people, our values, and our dignity over detention and deportation,” said Marcela Díaz, executive director at Somos Acción.

"We applaud the House for its passage of the Immigrant Safety Act today, and call on the Senate to act urgently," stated Arturo Castillo, CVNM director of equity & culture. "New Mexico must hold corporate bad actors to a basic standard of care for our communities, our air, land, and water. It is time for New Mexicans to show that we care for all of our people and get New Mexico’s government out of the business of immigration detention."

“We applaud the people of New Mexico who united across the state to say ‘no more’ to the targeting of valued community members based on what they look like, where they come from, or the language they speak. Today, New Mexicans choose safety over cruel and abusive immigration detention,” said Kelvin Lopez, organizing manager at Detention Watch Network. “With the passage of the Immigrant Safety Act, New Mexicans are protecting their immigrant family members, neighbors, and friends to ensure communities are safe across the state from violent ICE agents and detention centers. Now more than ever, we need courageous leaders who aren’t afraid to unite against Trump and advocate for the rights and dignity of everyone.”

“The New Mexico House showed its commitment to the dignity of all people — wherever they come from — by passing this Immigrant Safety Act and its strong prohibitions against using local law enforcement for immigration enforcement. That keeps our communities safer and our families together,” said Sylvia Ulloa, executive director for NM CAFe.

“Governor Lujan Grisham and our champions’ support in the House for HB 9+ recognizes the vast contributions of immigrant communities and that immigrants are essential to the economic, civic, and cultural fabric of our state. HB 9+ not only promotes public safety, but helps keep families together and makes strides to phase out a privatized detention industry that makes billions of dollars for corporations which capitalize on human misery and the inhumane and violent targeting of our communities by the federal government,” said Fabiola Landeros, El CENTRO de Igualdad y Derechos.