New Mexico US Senators Heinrich, Luján back legislation to protect dreamers’ data - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
New Mexico’s senators in Congress have joined two dozen others in an effort to protect the private information submitted by undocumented people who came to the U.S. as children in order to receive protection from deportation.
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich on Thursday announced that he and U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, along with 24 other senators, have introduced the Protect DREAMer Confidentiality Act, which would prohibit the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security from divulging to immigration authorities information disclosed in someone’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) application.
“I call on Congress to quickly take up and pass my legislation to make sure Dreamers are able to stay in school, keep working and contribute to our economy, and remain in their homes and neighborhoods,” Heinrich said in a statement.
The bill would also block DHS from referring anyone with deferred enforcement protections under DACA to any law enforcement.
Under the legislation, DHS could still share the information with national security and police agencies in order to identify or prevent fraud, and to investigate felony crimes, as long as they aren’t related to the applicant’s immigration status or for “particularized national security purposes.”
Approximately 825,000 people have received protection from deportation under DACA since 2021, according to Heinrich’s office.
“We need to ensure that Dreamers’ private information is not weaponized against them and is protected — full stop,” Heinrich said.
In a news release, Heinrich’s office noted that DACA recipients have contributed an estimated $140 billion to the U.S. economy and $40 billion in federal, state and local taxes.
The bill’s introduction comes as the federal Internal Revenue Service is building a database of taxpayer records, including home addresses, to help ICE find and deport people, ProPublica reports. The Trump administration has also provided immigration authorities with Medicaid enrollees’ personal data.
Earlier this year, New Mexico enacted a new state law that prohibits the state Motor Vehicle Division employees from disclosing driver’s license data to any entity that would use it to enforce federal civil immigration laws, among other data protections.
“Dreamers in New Mexico and across the country are frontline health care workers, teachers, firefighters, police officers and scientists,” Heinrich said. “These inspiring young people are Americans in every sense of the word except on paper, and they want nothing more than to be productive members of their communities. Unfortunately, the Trump Administration doesn’t care about any of that and is indiscriminately sharing the private information of Dreamers.”
2nd Judicial District Court to reduce public access due to security staffing cuts - Gregory R.C. Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
The 2nd Judicial District Court announced on Sunday it will limit the number of people entering the courthouse and other court locations because of increased violence at courthouses, according to court officials.
The decision came after the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office announced it would reduce the number of deputies who provide security at the courthouse.
On July 10, BCSO notified the district court it planned to reduce the number of deputies who secure the courthouse “by one-third to one-half” beginning Monday due to budget constraints, Administrative Office of the Courts spokesperson Barry Massey said.
Under state law, the sheriff’s office is responsible for security at the court, Massey said.
BCSO did not respond Sunday to a request for comment.
The court’s decision also comes after a couple of incidents took place inside and outside the courthouse.
In January, multiple people got into a melee inside the 2nd Judicial District courthouse during a hearing for an accused murderer.
Last week, several members of the district attorney’s office “were verbally accosted and confronted on their way to a parking lot after a court hearing,” Massey said.
Massey said he did not have the names of those involved from the recent incident.
“The safety and well-being of people required to go to court cannot be compromised,” New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice David K. Thomson said in a news release. “We must take these precautionary steps while the district court works with Bernalillo County and its sheriff’s office to restore security staffing to necessary levels.”
Due to the reduction in staff, starting on Monday:
- The main clerk’s office will be limiting its hours to 1-4 p.m.
- The domestic violence clerk’s office will be open from 12:30-3:30 p.m., though it will continue to respond to calls and electronic fillings.
- The self-help center will be limited to online and telephone inquiries.
- Civil, family and children’s court case hearings will be conducted remotely.
The district court operates in three locations: the Bernalillo County Courthouse, Children’s Court in the Juvenile Justice Center and the Judicial Supervision and Diversion Programs at the Public Safety Center.
The reduction of in-person services, however, does not apply to the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, Massey said. Criminal and civil jury trials and other proceedings — like sentencing hearings — will continue to take place at the courthouse as usual. People reporting for jury selection and trials will still be able to come in, Massey said.
“We value our partnership with the county of Bernalillo and especially the hard work and dedication of officers assigned to the courthouse,” Thomson said. “However, our paramount concern is protecting jurors, witnesses, victims and their families, attorneys, court employees, judges and members of the public who come to the district court for trials, hearings and other court business.”
Judicial leaders are changing district court operations temporarily through Aug. 2 while attempting to bring security up to adequate levels, he said.
The 2nd Judicial District Court is the largest district court in the state, with 30 judges, 11 hearing officers and more than 300 employees. Over 7,100 people visit the clerk and self-help offices monthly, Massey said. So far in 2025, there have been 5,867 calls for services to deputies to provide court security, he said.
Good Trouble Lives On: New Mexico communities join national civil rights protests – Kevin Hendricks, nm.news
Communities across New Mexico took part in nationwide “Good Trouble Lives On” protests Thursday, joining what organizers called a moral reckoning on the fifth anniversary of civil rights leader John Lewis’s death.
The statewide participation continues New Mexico’s active engagement in 2025 protest movements, with events in at least 11 communities including Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Taos, Embudo, Madrid, Cibola County, Socorro, Roswell, Truth or Consequences, Carlsbad and Tijeras.
In Santa Fe, protesters gathered at the New Mexico State Capitol. Albuquerque hosted a candlelight vigil and march at Roosevelt Park with organizers building a community altar to honor those who have died in ICE custody, as well as what they describe as “the 50,000 Americans who will die each year as a direct result of losing their needed healthcare and being stripped of their human rights.”
In Tijeras, Indivisible Tijeras and Beyond held a sidewalk protest in front of the Tijeras Post Office, with participants bringing signs, U.S. flags, and “defiant spirit.”
New Mexico has consistently participated in nationwide protest movements throughout 2025. The state joined June 14 “No Kings” protests in over a dozen cities including Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Gallup, Los Alamos, Las Cruces and Taos. The nationwide “No Kings” demonstrations drew an estimated 6 million people at more than 2,100 events spanning all 50 states.
Earlier this year, twelve New Mexico cities participated in “Hands Off” protests including Santa Fe, Ramah, Albuquerque, Taos, Gallup, Las Cruces, Portales, Socorro, Truth or Consequences, Los Lunas, Silver City and Alamogordo.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has supported peaceful protest rights, stating that people have “the right to protest without getting violent” and expecting “zero tolerance for violence and illegal acts.”
The “Good Trouble Lives On” movement is led by the Transformative Justice Coalition, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Black Voters Matter and the Declaration for American Democracy Coalition. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is the nation’s oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition. The Declaration for American Democracy Coalition includes over 260 democracy, environmental, labor, faith-based, and civil rights groups.
Organizers described the July 17 events as “a national day of nonviolent action to respond to the attacks posed on our civil and human rights by the Trump administration and to remind them that in America, the power lies with the people.”
The protests honor John Lewis, the civil rights leader and congressman who died July 17, 2020. Lewis coined the term “good trouble,” describing it as “the action of coming together to take peaceful, non-violent action to challenge injustice and create meaningful change.”
The movement followed other nationwide demonstrations against the Trump administration organized by the 50501 Movement and other groups since Trump returned to office in January. The 50501 Movement, short for “50 protests, 50 states, one movement,” has organized multiple nationwide protests throughout 2025.
Albuquerque Community Safety divides responders into two zones to improve response time - Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
The department tasked with sending a non-law enforcement response to those struggling with homelessness and behavioral health issues around Albuquerque is dividing into two.
Albuquerque Community Safety is splitting its forces into two zones in hopes of improving response times, Jorge Hernandez, public information officer for ACS, announced Tuesday.
ACS this week launched its bilateral response model, which splits the city into east and west zones, separated by Interstate 25. ACS responders will be dedicated to one side of the city, allowing “resources to be tailored to the unique needs of each zone,” the department said in a news release.
“About 40% of our calls are on the West Side,” Mayor Tim Keller told a news conference.
“While certain areas of the city may typically have more responders due to higher call volume, responder distribution is flexible and adjusted regularly to best serve the community,” the department wrote in the statement. “We will continue to maintain bilateral operations to ensure consistent coverage on both sides of the city.”
ACS responds to more than 3,000 behavioral and mental health related calls every month, according to the release. In June, the department said it responded to 3,583 calls — a monthly record for the department.
The department will also open a new field office, ACS West, on 98th Street, south of Central, and will be the new base of operations for half of ACS responders. The ACS headquarters is located in Southeast Albuquerque off of San Mateo and Kathryn.
“ACS West will be used for responders to write reports, eat meals, and hold shift briefings and meetings,” the department wrote in an email to the Journal. “The facility will also be used to store supplies and responder vehicles.”
ASC also announced that the Southwest Public Safety Center is scheduled to open in the fall. This will be the first facility in the city to house all three public safety departments: the Albuquerque Police Department, Albuquerque Fire Rescue and Albuquerque Community Safety.
ACS said it has received more than 113,000 calls since opening in 2021.
'Unprecedented' flood wrecks Tijeras bridge - Nakayla McClelland, Albuquerque Journal
A nearly completed watershed project and bridge were put to the test last weekend when a flash flood swept through the streets of the village and Tijeras Creek rose to a peak of 9 feet in 15 minutes.
Thursday morning, Bernalillo County Commissioner Eric Olivas, whose district includes Uptown and the East Mountains, and experts gathered outside Los Vecinos Community Center, just feet from a pedestrian bridge damaged by floodwaters on Saturday.
“The National Weather Service is calling this a 200-500 year flood event,” Olivas said. “I think it’s important to note that this is an event that is increasingly likely in the face of a changing climate, and we are dealing with those climate impacts right here in the East Mountains, right here in our community, and we have to step up and confront those impacts and fight climate change at the same time.”
Saturday’s storm in the East Mountains caused “unprecedented flooding,” Olivas said. No people were injured from the flooding, but the bridge has been closed.
The village of Tijeras saw 3 inches of rain and hail in 30 minutes. The storm caused significant damage to Los Vecinos Community Center Bridge — a key connection for residents traveling between the community center and nearby A. Montoya Elementary and Roosevelt Middle schools.
Officials said Tijeras will provide a shuttle for students going to school or to summer programs until the bridge can be repaired.
“Our main concern here is that we know that this is a centralized hub for the residents of the East Mountains, and we need folks to understand that you cannot drop your kids off and just expect them to cross the creek,” said Andre Dickson, director of BernCo Parks, Recreation and Open Space.
Work to repair the bridge is not expected to begin until spring of 2026, said Brian Lopez, BernCo Public Works technical services director. Though it is not certain until damages have been assessed, Lopez said it is likely the entire bridge will have to be rebuilt.
“Our biggest obstacle in getting this bridge reconstructed is that our wait times for the construction material needed are quite long,” Lopez said. “Most manufacturers are estimating wait times of about a year. Simply put, we cannot start rebuilding this bridge until we can acquire those materials.”
While the damage was substantial, Kali Bronson, stormwater program compliance lead, said it could have been worse if not for the nearly completed Tijeras Creek Watershed Restoration Project.
“Our project was about 80-90% complete when the floodwaters from this weekend’s storm inundated the site,” Bronson said. “Although our project wasn’t complete, we did see that the restoration work that we have done still generally functioned exactly the way we were hoping they would.”
The project, which began in 2023, would reconnect Tijeras Creek with its historic floodplain, reestablish the natural stream course and reduce overall flood risk. The project cost $1,550,000 and was funded by the New Mexico River Stewards Grant with additional funding provided by Bernalillo County.