Overview
- The Justice Department filed a lawsuit and sought a preliminary injunction to stop enforcement of New Mexico’s HB9 and Albuquerque’s Safer Community Places Ordinance.
- Prosecutors say HB9 would end long-running cooperation by barring public entities from federal immigration detention and by blocking federal agents from using local government property.
- The department alleges the city ordinance requires private businesses to alert undocumented people about enforcement activity, which it says would shield targets from detection.
- The suit names the state, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Attorney General Raúl Torrez, the city, and Mayor Tim Keller, and it was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico as case No. 1:26-cv-01471.
- DOJ framed the case as part of a broader campaign against sanctuary policies after a southern border emergency declaration, while Torrez said he will defend HB9 as constitutional.