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.
Latest Press Release
May 06, 2020
Elisha Lucero was shot 21 times by BCSO deputies. Watch her sister speak out about that night.
The death of Elisha Lucero at the hands of BCSO deputies in 2019 was both tragic and preventable. Lucero, 28, was killed on July 21, 2019 when Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) deputies shot her 21 times. BCSO deputies were responding to a 911 call from family members who were concerned about her mental health and safety.
Sep 28, 2018
Danger in the Blind Spots: The Hidden Costs of Predictive Policing
Computer programs that crunch data from arrest reports, court records, even social media accounts, and then spit out predictions about future crimes to stop them before they happen, promise to have policing down to a science. But hidden in the blind spots of these data-crunching algorithms lay numerous civil liberties concerns.
By Katie Hoeppner
Aug 21, 2018
In Harm's Way
As renowned Native American artist Mateo Romero drove along Old Santa Fe Trail on a hot July day, he couldn’t have imagined that he’d soon be lying face down on the ground with a rifle pointed at his head.
By Katie Hoeppner
May 10, 2018
The Toxic Cocktail of White Fear and Police Power
As teenage brothers Thomas and Lloyd descended a staircase with fellow prospective students of Colorado State University, the excitement of visiting their dream school quickly unraveled.
By Katie Hoeppner
Dec 13, 2017
New Mexico Sheriff’s Office Pulls Over the Same Black Federal Agent — Three Times in a Month
By the third time Sherese Crawford got pulled over, she knew it was no matter of coincidence.
Sep 28, 2017
Albuquerque Police Department’s Preparation for Black Lives Matter Event was Alarmist and Biased
On Friday, September 22, a group of several hundred people in Albuquerque peacefully marched downtown to protest police brutality against people of color in America. Though the event was planned well in advance, the timing couldn’t have been more appropriate. Just a few days earlier, yet another a white police officer was acquitted in the killing of a black motorist in St. Louis. When Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists protested the acquittal, St. Louis police in riot gear forcibly dispersed the protesters while mocking them with chants of, “Whose streets? Our streets!”—a co-opting of an iconic BLM slogan that emerged out the Ferguson protests three years earlier.
By Micah McCoy
Sep 26, 2017
Robby Heckman: Using Archaeology to Fight for Police Reform
Robby Heckman, like many ACLU volunteers, experienced something in his personal life that shook him to the core and drove him to action.
By Paul Haidle
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