Rising to the Moment: A Breakthrough 30‑Day Session for Civil Liberties

The 2026 legislative session moved at a breakneck pace — a sprint from the moment lawmakers gaveled in. That urgency wasn’t accidental. It reflected the national moment we’re living in, where our rights are under relentless and escalating attacks from the federal government. Against that backdrop, ACLU of New Mexico staff, community partners, advocates, and legislative champions showed up ready to work, and ready to lead with courage.

And yet, what defined this session wasn’t just its speed — it was its substance. In a 30‑day budget session that historically yields only a handful of wins, lawmakers advanced some of the most meaningful civil liberties protections in recent years. Bipartisan support emerged in unexpected places. Coalitions held firm against punitive approaches to public safety while advancing real solutions grounded in community support. And immigrants’ rights organizations helped strengthen protections for immigrant families in ways once thought impossible. This was a session shaped by urgency, but also by unity, strategy, and the belief that New Mexico can choose a different path. And together, we did.

Just days into the session, federal immigration officials shot and killed intensive care nurse Alex Pretti—the second fatal shooting in January alone, following the killing of Renee Good. That same month, six people died in immigration detention centers across the country: Geraldo Lunas Campos, Luis Gustavo Núñez Caceres, Luis Beltran Yanez Cruz, Parady La, Heber Sánchez Domínguez, and Victor Manuel Díaz. These horrific losses were a painful reminder of just how dangerous and unaccountable immigration forces have become under the Trump administration.

For years, immigrant‑led organizations, community advocates, and legislative champions had worked to end New Mexico’s complicity in federal immigration abuses. But this wave of loss — and the outrage it sparked across communities — reinforced the urgency of taking action.

Sponsors introduced The Immigrant Safety Act (HB 9) as a measure prohibiting state and local governments from entering into agreements to detain people for civil immigration violations and banning the use of public land for immigration detention. At its core, HB 9 was designed to pull New Mexico out of the machinery of mass deportation and detention—a need made even more urgent by the mounting human rights abuses in New Mexico’s three immigration detention centers.

Thanks to the advocacy of coalition partners, sponsors added a consequential amendment to the bill partway through session, explicitly prohibiting 287(g) agreements that conscript local police into federal immigration enforcement, a practice that breeds distrust and undermines community safety.

The amendment to strengthen the bill raised real questions about whether the measure could still pass. But community advocates pushed forward, insisting the protections were essential, and legislative champions backed them. HB 9 ultimately passed with its enhanced protections intact and was signed by Governor Lujan Grisham with twenty days left in the session. Its passage marked a defining moment for New Mexico and a powerful victory for immigrant families who have fought for years to end our state's complicity in mass detention and deportation.

The Driver Privacy and Safety Act (SB 40) was another defining achievement of the session. As location‑tracking technologies have expanded, so have questions about how the data they produce is handled. Automatic License Plate Readers — cameras that scan and record license plates as vehicles pass by — are one of the clearest examples. Without strong guardrails, the information they collect can be shared in ways that put people at risk.

ALPR data has been used to track immigrant community members, people seeking abortion care, and activists. A recent ACLU‑NM public records request showed that New Mexico’s ALPR cameras have been accessed thousands of times by out‑of‑state authorities for immigration enforcement, and at least once by Texas authorities tracking a woman seeking abortion care.

SB 40 prohibits local police from sharing ALPR data with federal and out-of-state agencies if they plan to use it in ways that violate New Mexico laws, while ensuring law enforcement can continue using ALPRs for legitimate investigations.

ACLU‑NM staff, advocates, and community partners working across reproductive, immigrant, LGBTQ+, and environmental rights rallied behind the bill for the third year in a row. Though the bill previously failed, this time the momentum was different, driven by growing public alarm over unchecked surveillance and mounting privacy abuses. SB 40 passed, including with some bipartisan support in both chambers— a recognition that privacy rights are not partisan concerns but shared expectations that every New Mexican should be able to move through their life without fear that their personal data will be weaponized.

Throughout the session, the ALL Safe coalition worked in tandem with youth justice organizations, including the Justice 4 Youth legislative committee, to advance proven public safety solutions while pushing back against proposals that would have expanded criminalization and deepened existing harms. These efforts reflected years of organizing, research, and lived expertise from people who know firsthand what real safety requires.

One of those efforts was SB 43, the first update to New Mexico’s parole system in four decades. The bill, passed unanimously by both chambers, modernizes parole review to ensure parole decisions are based on evidence, such as a person’s rehabilitative efforts while incarcerated, instead of outdated measures.

We also helped pass two important measures aimed at addressing urgent public health challenges. SM 21 calls for a study on the feasibility of overdose prevention centers, a real step toward saving lives and expanding access to care in the state. And SM 20 directs the state to convene a youth violence summit, to develop a comprehensive, research‑based strategy for preventing and reducing youth violence.

Equally important to our proactive wins, the ACLU-NM and partners successfully fought back against a slew of counter-productive measures that would have increased penalties, created automatic sentences for youth, added new crimes, weakened the landmark civil rights act, and made it easier to hold people pre-trial.

Anyone who's worked a legislative session knows that our biggest wins rarely happen overnight. They’re the product of years of advocacy, coalition building, public education, and mobilization. And when the tides of public sentiment shift, that groundwork can be the difference between a bill stalling out and a bill finally crossing the finish line. This year, many of the measures we passed were years in the making — proof that when we work together and refuse to give up, we can usher in real progress. That progress was powered not only by advocates inside the Roundhouse, but by thousands of community supporters who took action with us, raised their voices, and made clear that New Mexico can choose a different path — one that protects our people and strengthens our communities.

Though we didn’t get all of our bills over the finish line, we laid the foundation for more robust digital privacy protections, more proactive public safety solutions that invest in youth and uplift our communities, and urgent measures that safeguard New Mexicans’ values, dignity, and autonomy. And our partners advanced other critical protections like continued investments in healthcare access as well as measures that strengthen our democracy by moving towards modernizing our legislature and prohibiting military and ICE agents at polling locations.

The work ahead is real, but so is the momentum. And together, we’re building a New Mexico where every person’s rights and freedoms are truly protected.