Hundreds rally against immigrant detention in New Mexico– Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Despite frigid temperatures, New Mexico’s Immigrant and Workers Day of Action drew more than 500 people to the Roundhouse Monday morning rallying for an end to New Mexico’s participation in federal immigrant detention.
Immigrant advocacy groups and residents from across New Mexico urged movement on House Bill 9, which if passed would prohibit local and state government entities from entering into agreements to detain people accused of federal immigration violations.
Last week, HB 9 advanced through its first committee along party lines. Recently, Republican leadership in the house has requested the federal government step in and stop it.
Monday’s rally followed Saturday’s killing in Minnesota of 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti by federal immigration agents — the second such fatal incident in that city in the last month.
New Mexico lawmakers championing HB9 legislation cited the immigration raids in Minnesota as a reason to pass the bill and resist federal immigration policy. House Speaker Javier Martínez (D-Albuquerque) called HB9 “a movement that will help the United States of America find its soul again.”
Source NM recently reported that dozens of immigrants arrested in Minneapolis were shipped to the Torrance County Detention Facility, which is run by private prison operator CoreCivic, in New Mexico.
One attendee at the roundhouse Monday, 26-year-old Andres Esquivel, a campaigns manager at immigrant rights nonprofit New Mexico Dream Team, said the legislation is a long time coming, citing reports of civil rights violations and abusive conditions in the facilities documented by Congress.
“I’m fighting to end federal detention immigration centers, I’m fighting for the rights of all immigrants, including myself, my parents, my friends, my whole community,” Esquivel told Source NM.
Esquivel, who was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, moved to the United States when he was 2 years old. He called the prospect of increased immigration detention in New Mexico “pretty terrifying” for immigrant communities.
“New Mexico has so far seemed to be under the radar, when it comes to ICE activity, which I’m glad about, but I think we need to start organizing more,” he said.
Participants and lawmakers spoke about the recent killings of Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, also 37.
Eder Lopez, 17, a New America high school student from the South Valley in Albuquerque, held a sign memorializing Pretti, calling him an “ICU nurse, neighbor and friend.”
“I’m here to represent my community, and what we stand for,” Lopez told Source NM. “This country wouldn’t be where we are without the immigrant community.”
Norma Dorado, 57, told Source NM in Spanish: “This is a fight for our country, for everything happening with our community.”
Ramon Dorado, 62, who currently works three jobs, also noted Pretti’s and Good’s deaths, and said the Trump administration’s recent actions have heightened immigrants’ fear.
“This administration is very bad, it doesn’t matter who you are,” he said. “They’ve broken the law, they’ve broken the Constitution.”
Judge allows video streaming of Meta trial in Santa Fe
—Olivier Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal
A judge on Monday rejected a request by digital giant Meta to bar live streaming of a trial scheduled to begin next week in Santa Fe in which the social media company will defend itself from allegations that it fails to protect minors from sexual exploitation.
Meta argued that video and audio streaming would expose Meta employees to security threats "not just while they're here in New Mexico to testify, but also when they return home," attorney Melanie Stambaugh said Monday.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, in 2023 alleging the parent company of Facebook and Instagram failed to protect children from sexual abuse, online solicitation and human trafficking.
Jury selection is set to begin Monday in 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe before Judge Bryan Biedscheid.
Video and audio broadcasts "exponentially increase these security risks because it would provide bad actors with concrete knowledge about the name, physical appearance and real-time location of the Meta employees who may testify in this case," Stambaugh argued.
She also argued that live streaming the trial, and the potentially graphic images likely to emerge as evidence, also would hinder Meta's right to a fair trial in other pending civil cases.
Jury selection began this week in a related case in California Superior Court in Los Angeles in a lawsuit alleging that Meta Platforms, TikTok and YouTube have fueled a youth mental health crisis.
Biedscheid responded Monday that concerns about security and future trials doesn't outweigh the public's right to observe judicial proceedings.
"It's just true the courtroom is of limited size and not every member of the public who might be interested in the trial is able to participate in person," Biedscheid said. "I do not see that we cannot conduct a fair trial in this matter with the media having full access to the proceeding."
Biedscheid said he could reconsider if witness intimidation or media distraction becomes an issue in the trial.
Chief Deputy Attorney General James Grayson argued Monday that removing video cameras from the courtroom wouldn't prevent any of the potential harms Meta raised in their arguments. Meta had not sought to remove print media or still photographers from the courtroom, which would reveal the names of witnesses and the substance of the evidence, Grayson said.
"So Meta's justification for limiting audio and video recording is not based on the security of its employees, because all of the information Meta wants to protect can be public without that limitation," he said.
The suit filed by the New Mexico Department of Justice alleges that the design of Instagram and Facebook have resulted in minors having access to child sexual abuse materials and child predator accounts in violations of New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act.
New Mexico Supreme Court allows Santa Fe 'mansion tax' to remain in effect
—Santa Fe New Mexican
The New Mexico Supreme Court has upheld a City of Santa Fe tax referred to by some as the "mansion tax.”
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the state’s high court on Thursday rejected a request to reconsider a state Court of Appeals decision upholding the tax. The petition was filed by the Santa Fe Association of Realtors.
The tax imposes a 3% fee on the cost of home sales over $1 million within city limits. Santa Fe voters approved the tax in 2023.
The city began collecting the tax almost immediately, and within a month had received three payments totaling almost $59,000. One of the payments came from a homebuyer named Ellen Cash. Last December, Cash filed a complaint in state District Court claiming the tax was unlawful and asking the city to refund her payment. Her case is ongoing; the city filed a motion to dismiss Jan. 8, but the court has not yet ruled on that motion.
The New Mexican reports that after the tax took effect, city officials added $1.5 million in revenue into their budget for the current fiscal year for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
However, the city then changed its policy regarding where to place the revenues from the tax. In December, city officials said they are holding payments from the tax without spending or allocating them until all litigation is resolved.
'We're not going to stand for it': Hundreds march Downtown Albuquerque to protest Alex Pretti's death - Gregory R.C. Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
A few hundred people battled the cold and slippery conditions on Sunday to speak up against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the shooting death of an intensive care unit nurse in Minnesota.
Many shouted, "We want ICE off our streets. No justice. No peace," as they marched down slushy sidewalks and streets from outside the Bernalillo County Courthouse to Civic Plaza. Others held signs with messages such as "From Albuquerque to Minneapolis: Stop the Terror" and "Renee Good ICE Bad."
Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross while driving inside an SUV during an immigration crackdown earlier this month. And Alex Pretti was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent during a Minneapolis protest following Good's death on Saturday morning.
ICE claims that Good had used her car to ram an ICE official and that Pretti had been armed, though video shows ICE officials disarming him before shooting him. The two killings have sparked nationwide outrage and Democrats in Congress are threatening a partial government shutdown this week over funding to ICE in the wake on the incidents.
At the Roundhouse, New Mexico Democrats have called on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to take additional action to protect New Mexicans from ICE. The Legislature, in the midst of a 30-day session, is already considering a measure to ban counties from contracting with ICE — a move that could love one of three private prisons on New Mexico with which ICE contracts.
"If we cannot exercise our 1st and 2nd amendment rights without getting beaten or murdered then those rights no longer exist," Rep. Sarah Silva, D - Las Cruces, said in a statement Sunday. "As elected leaders we all took an oath to defend and uphold our constitution. Now is that time."
Among the marchers at Sunday's event was Albuquerque resident Tim Rysanek, who said he came after learning about Pretti's death.
"He was an American citizen who had done nothing wrong," Rysanek said. "He was just trying to help a lady being bullied by ICE, just trying to help her up and ICE murdered him for it. I'm out here to exercise my First Amendment right and let everybody in this country know we're not going to stand for it."
Fellow marcher David Sanchez said, "What's happening in the country is out of control."
"I think we're all aghast," he said. "If anybody would have asked me if any of this could have happened two years ago, I would have been like, 'That's crazy.'"
Pretti's death sparked people like Albuquerque teacher Chris Salas to come out and protest for the first time in years.
"I decided that it was enough," he said. "I got to stand up for my community ... I could have been Alex Pretti yesterday."
As Salas walked across Tijeras Avenue and Sixth Street, he went by Diana Stetson, who held a sign saying that Albuquerque stood in solidarity with Minneapolis.
"Peaceful demonstrations like this should be supported and not suppressed," she said. "... This event wasn't even advertised. This is a spontaneous reaction to a horrible event in our country."
Resident Cameron Kwon said he came because it is important to support people's constitutional rights.
"Whether you are innocently detained or you (committed) a crime, everybody still has a right to due process," he said.
Inside Civic Plaza, protesters listened to speakers talk about ICE, Renee Good and ICE's alleged treatment of immigrants.
"We will fight until the last people at these detention centers are reunited with their families," said Kuveni Scanlan with the Party for Socialism & Liberation. "We will keep fighting until every single immigrant has full rights and is able to live without fear."
Kwon said the events in Minnesota have more people feeling uncomfortable about what is going on, "and more and more people are standing up nationwide."
NM Senate passes interstate medical compact bill - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
New Mexico came one step closer Friday to entering an interstate medical compact that would make it easier for doctors licensed in other states to practice in New Mexico.
The state Senate voted 40-0 to approve Senate Bill 1, the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Act. Supporters of the bill hail it as a critical step in addressing the state’s shortage of health care workers and expanding telehealth services in rural areas.
Advocates for entering the compact have in recent years faced pushback from some lawmakers. Some Democrats have also been reluctant to focus on more than two compacts at a time, contending that entering several could overburden the state Regulation and Licensing Division.
Lawmakers who spoke from the Senate floor on Friday praised the bill, but were quick to add that they don’t see it as a silver bullet for the many problems facing New Mexico’s health care system. They said the health care worker shortage will persist until the state reforms its medical malpractice laws, which currently have no cap on damages payments. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has made such reform a priority for her final year in office.
“Some have said it’s not a silver bullet. I prefer to say it’s not the only solution,” Sen. Linda Trujillo (D-Santa Fe), one of the bill’s sponsors, said from the Senate floor Friday.
In a subsequent interview with Source NM, she said she thinks that loan forgiveness for health care professionals and affordable housing are also key steps toward solving the worker shortage.
“There’s a lot of work to do and it isn’t just found in one particular piece of legislation,” she said.
While similar legislation failed in the 2025 session, lawmakers this week praised SB1’s passage and several stressed the importance of entering similar compacts for other licensed professionals. Representatives in the state House on Wednesday advanced nine bills focused on interstate compacts for several licensed occupations, including physician’s assistants, physical therapists and social workers.
Trujillo told Source that several of those multi-state compacts do not yet have enough participating states to be considered “active.” Others have not yet done the proper rulemaking needed to become active compacts, leading her to question whether signing onto them in this 30-day legislative session is the best use of the Legislature’s time.
Republicans in the Senate on Friday showed nothing but enthusiasm for those other compacts, though.
“I would just like to remind this chamber that this is just one little piece of the pie and that we have a lot more compacts lined up, too,” Sen. Steve Lanier (R-Aztec), who’s seeking the Republican nomination for governor, said during the Senate’s discussion of the bill.
Storm produces as much as 30 inches of snow across parts of NM - Gregory R.C. Hasman, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico received between an inch to over 2 feet of snow in a system that caused widespread snow, ice and power outages across the country.
Albuquerque and the East Mountains got 1 to 3 inches and 3 to 6 inches, respectively, said Jennifer Shoemake, National Weather Service of Albuquerque meteorologist.
On Saturday night, the Albuquerque Police Department responded to 32 crashes, seven resulting in injuries, said Dan Mayfield, city Department of Municipal Development spokesperson, in a news release on Sunday. Additionally, Albuquerque Community Safety transported 70 people to shelters, he said.
At the Albuquerque International Sunport, 20 flight cancellations were reported along with some delays "due to impacts in other states that experienced severe weather," Mayfield said.
While the metro area received some snow, parts of southern New Mexico got much more.
Shoemake said Ski Apache in Alto received 31 inches while Ruidoso got about 6-10 inches "and that was on top of a 1/4- to 1/2-inch of ice." The weather caused over 2,000 people to lose power in the Ruidoso area.
While the snow has stopped, roads will remain slick in many parts of the state, especially on bridges.
"The road may seem dry but any moisture on a bridge can remain frozen even if the sun is out and the lane look(s) clear," according to a New Mexico Department of Transportation social media post on Sunday. "... Use extra caution on bridges, especially ones that cross a river or any water."
In a Sunday morning Facebook post, the Chaves County Sheriff's Office advised people to stay off the roads.
If drivers need to go out, especially in eastern and southern New Mexico, Shoemake said they should "take it slow, leave lots of space and give yourself extra time to get to your destinations."
The snow may be gone for the "foreseeable future," Shoemake said, but morning temperatures will be below freezing in the coming days.
In Roswell, Monday's low could be minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit, which would break the record of 3 degrees set in 1904 and 1966, she said. While the metro area is not expected to see temperatures that cold, Shoemake said people can expect lows in the teens.
When the weather gets that cold, she said, people should check on their neighbors and elderly, bundle up and if they are out shoveling snow or working, they should should "take a lot of breaks" and give themselves time to warm up and drink hot liquids.
"Also," Mayfield said in the news release, "if you're cold, pets will be cold, too, and they should be brought inside to stay warm."
He said low- and moderate-income residents seeking a doghouse for their pet can apply for the Animal Welfare Department's Doghouse Lottery.