News & Commentary
A New Phase in Civil Liberties Advocacy: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going
For decades, the ACLU of New Mexico has worked alongside communities to defend civil liberties and expand the promise of the constitution. Today, with fundamental freedoms under intensifying attack and the stakes for our democracy higher than ever, that work has never been more urgent.
Feb 08, 2022
Four things you need to know about the pretrial detention bill
Among the slew of public safety bills New Mexico legislators are debating this session are HB 5 and SB 189, which would impose new pretrial release conditions and roll back voter-approved bail reforms in the state.
By ACLU-NM
Feb 04, 2022
Questions and Answers About The Fines, Fees and Cost Payment Flexibility Bill
The Fines, Fees and Cost Payment Flexibility Bill (HB81), seeks to change how court fees are assessed and repaid so people working to rebuild their lives aren’t burdened with crushing debt or re-incarcerated simply because they can’t immediately afford their fees. Those fees, which are often used to fund government agencies, do nothing to improve public safety and often fall hardest on overpoliced Black and Brown communities already struggling with systemic racism and fewer job opportunities, resulting in lower incomes.
By Leonardo Castañeda
Feb 02, 2022
The New Mexico Voting Rights Act: What You Need to Know
The fight for voting rights remains as critical as ever. Politicians across the country continue to engage in voter suppression, efforts that include additional obstacles to registration, cutbacks on early voting, and burdensome voter identification requirements. But in New Mexico we have a chance to turn the tide to expand and protect voting rights for all of us in passing the New Mexico Voting Rights Act.
Feb 01, 2022
Second Chance Bill: What it does, why it’s important, and how you can help
ACLU of New Mexico Staff Attorney Denali Wilson talks about the need for the Second Chance Bill in New Mexico.
Jan 13, 2022
Internal Border Patrol checkpoints threaten New Mexico’s cannabis equity goals
The checkpoints could hinder the participation of businesses in Southern New Mexico in the state's legal cannabis industry.
By Leonardo Castañeda
Jan 11, 2022
Base Pretrial Detention on Facts, Not Fear
Ahead of the 2022 legislative session, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and allied lawmakers are calling for legislation that would make it even easier to detain people accused of certain felony crimes before their trials, citing public safety concerns. The legislation they propose flies in the face of the core American principle of “innocent until proven guilty” by creating a presumption against release for people accused of certain crimes.
By Nayomi Valdez
Jan 10, 2022
Why this former prosecutor supports the second chance bill
Over half of U.S. states have either passed laws abolishing juvenile life without parole and creating second chance opportunities or they have never imposed such a sentence on children. New Mexico can look to the experiences that these other states have had with legislation like the Second Chance Bill to see that this type of legislation works. This legislative session, it is time for New Mexico to align with the rest of the country and pass the Second Chance Bill into law.
Dec 30, 2021
Brutality in the Borderlands
A New Mexico man seeks justice after a Customs and Border Protection officer assaults him
By Davida Gallegos
Dec 30, 2021
Lessons Learned: COVID-19 and Incarceration in New Mexico
It’s been one year and eight months since, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ACLU of New Mexico first sounded the alarm of an impending humanitarian crisis for incarcerated people in the state.
By Katie Hoeppner, Lalita Moskowitz
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