New Mexico is an example of the battle over local law enforcement's role in federal immigration crackdowns

A marched outside the N. M. State Capitol. N.M. has about 60,000
undocumented immigrants. (Photo by A. Slepyan, The Daily Yonder)

On Jan. 21, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy guardrails that prevented immediate raids in schools, hospitals and churches.
For local law enforcement officers, the change means they could be relied upon to conduct searches in their own communities. Not all law officers see that as part of their oath, reports Anya Petrone Slepyan of The Daily Yonder.

Sheriff Steve Miera, a 30-year law enforcement veteran in Taos, New Mexico, doesn't plan on doing federal immigration work. He told John Miller of the Taos News, "I have a sworn obligation to uphold the Constitution of the U.S., the laws of the state of New Mexico, and the laws of the county of Taos," Slepyan writes, "But that obligation does not include enforcing federal immigration policy, he said."

In sprawling rural Taos County, avoiding ICE entanglements is also a matter of limited financial resources and labor. Slepyan adds, "According to Miera, it would require over 100 deputies to adequately cover the county. But his office regularly employs only around 15 deputies to cover over 2,200 square miles."

Taos County's refusal to direct resources to support ICE actions is far from singular. "As the Trump administration implements increasingly restrictive immigration policies, enforcement efforts that rely on local and state cooperation are facing challenges in states, municipalities, and counties across the country," Slepyan explains. "Taos County, in northern New Mexico, has become one such battleground."

Miera's decision to leave federal agents to enforce federal law is "supported by a series of guidances issued by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez in response to a flurry of executive orders regarding immigration enforcement," Slepyan reports. "The guidance also specifies that under the reserved powers clause of the 10th Amendment, the federal government cannot 'force state employees to enforce federal law.'"

Meanwhile, the question of local law enforcement as a coordinating arm of federal immigration operations has "reached the New Mexico state legislature, with Democrats and Republicans each attempting to direct the responses of sheriff and police departments statewide" through various bills, Slepyan reports.