Audience members attending Albuquerque’s City Council meeting Monday erupted in cheers and chants of “sí, se puede” as they marched out of council chambers after a bill that would have amended the city’s immigrant friendly ordinance failed on a 4-5 vote.
“We’re so happy. We’re so excited,” said Fabiola Landeros, civil rights and citizenship organizer with the immigrant advocacy group EL CENTRO. “This is a statement that our immigrant policies have been working for the past 24 years, for public safety, for our communities. Not just the immigrant community — but all Burqueños who call Albuquerque home.”
Landeros said when the immigrant community first heard about the bill they knew it would be harmful, and that they had to stand up and fight against it.
“We did it. We did it,” she said.
Albuquerque’s immigrant friendly ordinance was amended in 2017 by Councilor Klarissa Peña and then-councilors Isaac Benton, Pat Davis and Diane Gibson. It states that no city resources will be used to identify someone’s immigration status, and that a person won’t be questioned or detained because they’re suspected of being undocumented.
Opponents to the amendment packed the house, and 125 people signed up for public comment — the majority of whom spoke about the proposal. All but one commenter speaking on the measure agreed with it. EL CENTRO also held a vigil before the council meeting.
See photos from the vigil before the meeting here.
The bill would have required Albuquerque police to report noncitizens to Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they were charged with a violent felony, human trafficking or drug trafficking. If it passed, Mayor Tim Keller — who did not support the measure — would have been able to veto it.
The bill was introduced May 6 by Councilors Brook Bassan and Renée Grout.
Councilors Peña, Tammy Fiebelkorn, Louie Sanchez, Nichole Rogers and Joaquín Baca voted against the bill, while Councilors Bassan, Grout, Dan Lewis and Dan Champine voted in favor of the bill.
At Monday’s meeting, Bassan said it’s not this bill that’s dividing the community, it’s the criminals, and that the city must be protected from criminals of all races.
“I believe that we should be an immigrant friendly city,” she said. “But I absolutely think that we need to do everything we can to stop being criminal friendly, and quit being complacent.”
At a rally on Civic Plaza last month, Fiebelkorn said she wasn’t interested in two ways of providing justice in our community. She reiterated the sentiment at Monday’s meeting.
“One Albuquerque is more than a tagline,” she said. “The vote tonight proves that Albuquerque is a compassionate community and we stand with our immigrant community.”
Fiebelkorn said that Monday’s vote was an understanding that immigrants are the heart of our community, and said “cheap political ploys like this do not stand a chance in Albuquerque.”
“I’m elated to be here with the community and see that we were able to convince City Council to vote against this really harmful resolution and honor the immigrant friendly policies that existed,” said Jessica Martinez, director of policy for the New Mexico Immigration Law Center.
The policy as is, she said, builds trust.
“It’s just exciting to see the movement building, that we can see immigrants are treated with respect and dignity and that they’re not scapegoated,” she said. “This is a very powerful moment that we see that our voices were heard.”
Read about the changes councilors are considering to the city’s elections here.
In an emailed statement to City Desk ABQ before the vote, Keller said changing the policies threatens to erode trust between the community and law enforcement and could actually make the city less safe.
“We want criminals to be held accountable, and deportation eliminates the possibility of justice for victims and their families,” he said.
After the bill failed, Keller said immigrants are a vital part of the community.
“We’re grateful City Council joined us to keep our immigrant friendly policy intact and make our city stronger and safe for everyone,” he said.
Keller reiterated that when communities trust law enforcement, crime reporting goes up and criminals are held accountable.
‘It’s the United States citizens’
According to Second Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman, it isn’t undocumented immigrants who are committing crimes in Albuquerque.
At a town hall meeting in Tijeras last week, Bregman said that every single murder case that’s launched in his office go across his desk.
“It’s the United States citizens that are the vast majority,” he said. “In fact, I cannot think of more than one person that we’ve prosecuted in 14 months — and we prosecute a hell of a lot of people in that office — for murder, for example, that was an undocumented individual. I cannot think of more than one.”
Bregman said most people committing crimes in Bernalillo County are United States citizens, and cases involving undocumented individuals get blown out of proportion.
“I get that, I understand that, but I also will tell you something,” Bregman said. “If you commit a violent crime in our country, I want to prosecute you and put you in prison.”
Bregman said he didn’t want these individuals to be deported before being prosecuted because he didn’t want them to have the ability to come back into the country after a couple of years. Once someone is prosecuted, Bregman said he’ll let immigration officials do what they’re going to do.
Bregman said oftentimes members of the migrant community are the victims of crimes or witnesses to serious crimes.
“They’re scared so they don’t testify and then that guy that did all the damage gets away with it and that’s a real problem for me,” he said.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct Jessica Martinez’s title.
CTRL+P publisher Pat Davis, a former city councilor, was a sponsor of the original immigrant friendly ordinance in 2017. His term on the council ended in 2023.