A coalition of immigrants’ rights advocates submitted a formal complaint with the United States Department of Homeland Security over what they called the “disappearance” of 48 New Mexico residents.
The advocates said that this made it critical for the legislature to pass legislation barring governments from entering into contracts with the federal government to detain immigrants.
ICE announced they arrested 48 people who the department said were in the country illegally in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Roswell earlier in March. The department claimed 20 were “arrested or convicted of serious criminal offenses.”
The advocates noted that the majority of those arrested have no criminal history.
ACLU of New Mexico senior staff attorney Rebecca Sheff said the fact that ICE has not disclosed identities or where they are being detained is “a serious human rights violation.”
“When the government takes people into custody and then their whereabouts are unknown and they are unreachable, it places these individuals outside the protection of the law,” Sheff said. “Families are left in agonizing uncertainty, desperate to contact their loved ones and ensure their safety. Enforced disappearances are prohibited by both our Constitution and international human rights standards.”
The Donald Trump administration has stepped up immigration enforcement.
This weekend, the administration deported hundreds of immigrants they claimed had connections to a Venezuelan gang. The administration deported them to El Salvador, citing a rarely used wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act.
A judge ordered the administration to stop any flight seeking to deport immigrants under the law, though the administration may have ignored the order and continued the flight to El Salvador.
“The Trump administration continues to terrorize communities and immigrant families in New Mexico and across the country,” Zoe Bowman, supervising attorney at Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, said. “Now more than ever, it’s crucial our state elected officials pass the Immigrant Safety Act and keep families together.