A road sign showing the Rio Arriba county line with Lybrook elementary just beyond it.

Locked Out: When School Boards Exclude Native Representation

At a small school district in northwestern New Mexico, many Navajo parents cannot run for local school board or vote in the school district’s elections where their children go to school. 

Latest Press Release


People Incarcerated in Doña Ana County Jail Sue Over Violent Paramilitary Tactics and Inhumane Treatment 

Six people who were held at the Doña Ana County Detention Center (DACDC) filed a lawsuit today seeking to end the jail's practice of conducting violent, unwarranted paramilitary training operations on incarcerated people.
Body camera footage from March 8, 2025, when such training operations took place at DACDC. Various officers, masked and armed, are seen running into the quiet cells in the middle of the night.

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Stay informed on civil rights issues. Discover our latest actions and updates in the Press Release section.

A photo of Rita Padilla-Gutiérrez standing in front of her sign that reads: "Trump, racist, rapist, not my president"

More Than a Yard Sign: Fighting for Free Speech in Tomé, New Mexico

When Rita Padilla-Gutiérrez posted anti-Trump signs in her yard, Valencia County threatened her with criminal prosecution at the urging of a pro-Trump county commissioner.

By Rita-Padilla Gutiérrez

Dark blue collage image of GuJuan, featuring a recent photo of him along with a childhood picture in various color filters

Beyond the Concrete Box: Gujuan Fusilier’s Story

This blog is the third of a series based on interviews with three men currently held in the Penitentiary of New Mexico who are part of a class action lawsuit challenging the inhumane and unconstitutional conditions of New Mexico’s long-term solitary confinement unit.

By Lalita Moskowitz

Stylized image of plantiffs in front of a dark green background, a silhouette of a man sitting down on pavement looking distressed is centered in the photo stylized in green.

Beyond the Concrete Box: Human Stories from Solitary

This blog is the first of a series based on interviews with Mah-konce Hudson, GuJuan Fusilier, and O'Shay Toney, who are currently held in the Penitentiary of New Mexico.

By Lalita Moskowitz

A Bad Cop's Best Friend

Qualified immunity and the quest to rebalance the scales of justice.

By Micah McCoy

A Bad Cop's Best Friend

A New Day

We will hold a Biden administration accountable just like we have held accountable every other presidential administration going back 100 years.

By Peter Simonson

A new day

Democracy on the Line

Inside the fight to protect every vote.

By Katie Hoeppner

Democracy on the line

The Questions You Probably THINK You Know the Answer to — But Likely Don’t — About ICE Detention

Our immigration detention system is complex and opaque by design. If you don't understand how it works, you're not alone.

By Hanna Johnson

10 questions immigrant detention

How They're Really Rigging Elections

Now is an excellent time to take a good hard look around at which politicians and elected leaders are undermining our democracy with word, deed, or silence - and remove them from positions of power and influence at the first available opportunity.

By Micah McCoy

Let people vote

Virus spread in NM jails, prisons should have, could have, been avoided

For the past seven months, rarely has a day gone by that the ACLU hasn’t received a desperate call or email from someone who has a family member or loved one locked up in one of our state’s jails or prisons. They are mothers, fathers, siblings, spouses – all terrified that someone they love will get sick because our state has abdicated its responsibility to prevent the unchecked spread of a deadly virus inside its detention facilities.

By Lalita Moskowitz

COVID Prisons Jails

ICE cruelty: What will Americans do?

Just when we thought U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s record of abuse couldn’t get much worse, a nurse at Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia provided testimony showing the agency is capable of more cruelty than we knew.

By Nadia Cabrera-Mazzeo, Zoila Y. Alvarez-Hernández

ICE CRUELTY What will Americans do?

Common Cause, ACLU launch statewide election integrity program

Common Cause New Mexico is teaming up with the ACLU of New Mexico to run a nonpartisan voter protection program this year to assist voters who encounter problems in voting, either by mail or in person.

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It's Time to Redefine Policing in New Mexico

During the recent special legislative session, the ACLU and its allies achieved something that six months ago seemed like an absolute long-shot: passing a law that requires every law enforcement agency in the state to adopt body-worn cameras. While the law does give us a new tool to strengthen police accountability in the state, it is by no means a cure-all for police excessive use of force. If we’re ever going to put an end to police violence, we will need to use every tool at our disposal to reform police culture and reduce the potential harm of police-citizen interactions.

By Peter Simonson

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