By NATHAN BROWN
The Santa Fe New Mexican
A lengthy debate over a proposal to get rid of New Mexico’s immigration detention centers pitted rural conservatives who fear lost jobs and empty main streets against Democrats who view it as a moral imperative to stop aiding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
“On principle and on the values of the state of New Mexico we no longer want to have this practice done in our state,” co-sponsor Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, said Friday afternoon on the House floor.
Romero condemned what she called “gross violations of human rights” in immigration detention facilities in New Mexico, including inadequate clean water, unsanitary conditions and even the deaths of some inmates.
House Bill 9, dubbed the “Immigrant Safety Act”, passed the state House 40-29 Friday afternoon on a mostly party-line vote after three hours of debate. It would ban local governments in New Mexico from contracting with the federal government to hold immigration detainees and would also ban contracts between the federal government and local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws.
The bill now heads to the Senate, where it has run into trouble in the past but where it seems to have better chances this year, with Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, a former foe and the chair of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, now signed on as a co-sponsor.
New Mexico is home to three detention facilities that contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in Cibola, Otero and Torrance counties.
Republicans said they are worried about the potential loss of hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue if the facilities close.
“This is our land, our choice,” said Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, whose district includes the Torrance County facility. “This is our county and our choice, and how dare the state go ahead to try to pass something that will ruin my district.”
Rep. Patricia “Patty” Lundstrom, D-Gallup, who grew up in Milan, where the Cibola County Correctional Center is located, said the county “has been kicked in the teeth the last few years” economically. She pointed to the closure of the Escalante coal plant and lack of state support for hydrogen power and said the job losses that could be caused by the bill would make things worse.
“I believe in this case economic justice has been very punitive to the people I know and grew up with,” she said.
Lundstrom was one of the few Democrats who voted against the bill. She stressed she does not support the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies but said the measure would “potentially remove jobs without consideration for economic impact.”
While the proposed budget for the state Department of Workforce Solutions contains $6 million to support Cibola, Otero and Torrance counties, Lundstrom said, she worried it won’t be enough to help and noted 75% of the department’s budget comes from the federal government. She called on fellow Democrats to each put $50,000 of their capital outlay toward helping support an industrial park in Cibola County. House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, replied he would commit $100,000 of his for that purpose.
“We need help when all our base industries have been swept away,” Lundstrom said.
Co-sponsor Rep. Angelica Rubio, D-Las Cruces, faulted policy decisions in past decades that promoted prisons as an alternative to other economic development in rural areas with few jobs.
“An economy built on cages is not development,” she said. “It is dependency. It is harm, and it sets communities up to lose no matter what happens next.”
Rubio said the state needs to help build “real investments, real jobs, real opportunity” other than prisons and environmentally harmful extractive industries.
“I would not ask you to take this step with me if I were not committed to walking it with you,” she said.
Republicans also raised the specter of retaliation if the Trump administration responds to the bill by cutting other sources of federal funding on which New Mexico depends.
“It is my opinion that the state is bullying the Trump administration to the chagrin of the New Mexico taxpayer,” said Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, who introduced an amendment that would have reimbursed counties for their losses if detention facilities closed as a result of the act. It was voted down 37-32.
Romero said federal cuts are already happening, alluding to the cuts to food assistance, health care and more in the federal spending bill passed last summer, which the Legislature held a special session last fall to backfill with state money.
“We will not be bullied in this,” Romero said. “… We will stand on our rights. We will stand on our values.”