LAS CRUCES, NM—Today, the ACLU of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights (RCBR) responded to President Obama’s announcement that he will take executive action to prevent the deportation up to 4.5 million people currently living in the United States without documentation:
 
“We applaud the President’s action to provide temporary relief for our many neighbors, friends and family who call the border region home. Our region, home to tens of millions of families, understands and celebrates the contributions of immigrant families that help make our communities diverse, safe and economically vibrant. We’ll join communities in continuing the fight for a lasting, fair solution for the millions of aspiring citizens both included and left unprotected by the President’s announcement,” said RCBR director Vicki Gaubeca.
 
“We are deeply concerned, however, by the suggestion that we need to expand wasteful border spending. Doubling the size of the Border Patrol—a proposal the agency itself states it doesn’t need or want—would worsen CBP’s urgent accountability crisis and condemn another generation of border residents to live under the heavy hand of unaccountable enforcement.”
 

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The ACLU of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights stands with border communities to defend and protect America’s constitutional guarantees of equality and justice for all families to live freely, safely and with dignity.

Immigrant rights organizations to protest ongoing family detention on Thursday in Artesia, NM
 
ARTESIA, NM—Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico condemned the U.S. government’s decision to continue detaining vulnerable mothers and children in a new, for-profit facility in Dilley, TX after their planned closure of the temporary detention facility in the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Artesia, NM. The facility in Artesia has held more than 500 mothers and children, mainly asylum seekers fleeing violence in Central America, since spring of this year.
 
“While we are glad New Mexico will soon be rid of the shameful practice of family detention, this is simply a lateral move,” said Vicki Gaubeca, director of ACLU-NM Regional Center for Border Rights. “Jailing innocent mothers and children is wrong whether we do it in New Mexico or Texas. Our policy of putting babies and toddlers behind barbed wire should shock the conscience of every American who believes in family, fairness, and basic human decency.”
 
The ACLU-NM Regional Center for Border Rights, Somos un Pueblo Unido, the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops,  the American Immigration Lawyers Association, along with residents from Southeast New Mexico, will hold a candlelight vigil in Artesia, NM, outside the FLETC detention center in protest of the ongoing practice of family detention in the United States.
 

WHAT: Candlelight vigil protesting the ongoing use of family detention in the United States

WHEN: Thursday, November 20 – 6 p.m.

WHERE: Outside the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, NM, 1300 W. Richey Ave., Artesia, NM

WHO: ACLU-NM Regional Center for Border Rights, Somos un Pueblo Unido, the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops,  and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

 

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The ACLU of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights advocates at the local, state, regional, and national levels for policies that protect the rights of people along the border.

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