Last summer, Colorado College students working with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and the ACLU of New Mexico sat down with people detained in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at the Otero County Processing Center to document the human cost of immigration detention in New Mexico. Their stories reveal a system rife with abuse, where basic human dignity is routinely denied and due process violations are commonplace. 

With the Trump administration pursuing aggressive deportation policies, our state faces the prospect of thousands of people apprehended within the United States being transferred into New Mexico's three detention centers—facilities already marked by well-documented human rights violations, including excessive use of solitary confinement, inadequate medical care, and three deaths since 2022. 

House Bill 9, the Immigrant Safety Act, would prevent our state from enabling these abuses. Seven other states have already passed similar laws, recognizing that no detention is safe. By prohibiting state and local government agreements with ICE for civil immigration detention, we can stop being complicit in this dangerous system. 

Over the coming weeks, we'll share the stories of those trapped in ICE detention in New Mexico in a series called Behind Detention Walls. Their experiences make clear why New Mexico must join other states in refusing to facilitate a system that treats our immigrant neighbors—who are integral parts of our communities as family members, friends, and coworkers—with such profound disregard for their basic dignity and safety. 

A huge thanks to all the students—Alex Reynolds, Sandra Torres, Karen Henriquez Fajardo, and Michelle Ortiz—for their invaluable work on this project. 

Editors Note: This op-ed was originally published in the Albuquerque Journal on February 26, 2025.

Our right to privacy is eroding at an alarming rate, as privacy protections have not kept pace with the rapidly evolving surveillance technologies. With the Trump administration promising to target journalists, protesters, and political adversaries, use police powers against immigrant communities, expand surveillance of private citizens, and restrict bodily autonomy, strengthening privacy protections in New Mexico has become urgent.

New Mexico lawmakers have a critical opportunity this legislative session to enact robust privacy legislation, but they need to hear from constituents now to make it happen.

Every digital interaction we have—from browsing social media and searching online to simply driving down the street—creates a trail of personal data being collected, analyzed, and sold. We’ve all experienced that unsettling moment when an online search results in waves of targeted advertising across every platform we use. The implications extend far beyond invasive marketing.

The New Mexico Community Safety and Privacy Act (Senate Bill 420) would restore control over our personal information. It would require companies to obtain explicit consent before collecting and selling our data and prevent them from tracking our online activity and precise location without our fundamental right to privacy.

Health care privacy faces particular challenges. As some states intensify restrictions on reproductive and gender-affirming care, protecting medical privacy has become essential. The Patient Records Privacy Act (Senate Bill 404) would safeguard deeply personal, sensitive medical information, requiring explicit authorization before any disclosure, including to out-of-state providers. The Health Data Privacy Act (House Bill 430) would provide additional protection by preventing health data from being scooped up, packaged, and re-shared.

Consider the implications: Data brokers are assembling detailed profiles about all of us. This information can be used to make predictions about our health outcomes, influence housing and employment decisions, affect insurance rates, and even target individuals seeking specific medical care. Most chillingly, government agencies can purchase mobile location data that tracented case, a phone’s movements were traced from a residence in Alabama to an out-of-state abortion clinic, where it remained for two hours. Period tracking apps, fitness trackers, and even retail purchase histories can be used to predict pregnancy status.

Without strong privacy protections, this sensitive information could be weaponized against any New Mexican. Our legislators have the power to enact these vital protections. Contact your representatives today and urge them to support these crucial privacy bills. Our personal information shouldn’t be a commodity, and our private lives shouldn’t be subject to constant surveillance.

The window for action is now, while we can still establish meaningful safeguards for our digital future. In an era of unprecedented data collection and surveillance, protecting our privacy rights can’t wait.

Lena Weber-Salazar is the interim policy director of ACLU New Mexico.