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N.M. Sheriff Challenges Trump Immigration Enforcement Policy [1]
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Date: 2025-02-17
After 30 years in law enforcement, Taos County Sheriff Steve Miera says he knows what his job is, and what it isn’t.
“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,” Miera told John Miller, editor of the Taos News, in a recent podcast interview.
But that obligation does not include enforcing federal immigration policy, he said. Miera was expanding on a statement he released in January.
“The Taos County Sheriff’s Office will not be conducting ‘raids’ or ‘round ups’ that focus on the immigration status of individuals,” the statement read. “We will, however, continue to enforce the laws of our county and state and seek out the criminals who would victimize our communities, regardless of citizenship or immigration status.”
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. Taos County, in northern New Mexico, has become one such battleground. Taos County is classified as nonmetropolitan by the federal Office of Management and Budget.
Miera’s position 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. This includes a document regarding the Section 287(g) program, which “authorizes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under the agency’s direction and oversight.”
Under the Section 287(g) program, local police and sheriff departments may choose to enter a contract or memorandum of agreement with ICE. Though such an agreement is not currently prohibited by state law, no law enforcement departments in New Mexico have entered into a Section 287(g) contract, according to the Immigration Legal Resource Center.
The attorney general also outlined possible consequences for local law enforcement who choose to function as federal immigration authorities, including a diversion of limited resources and the loss of community trust, which can harm departments’ relationships with victims and potential witnesses.
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.” Any orders issued by the Trump administration to detain individuals based on immigration status or immigration-related offenses should be seen as a request for cooperation rather than a legal demand, according to Torrez’s office.
In the interview with Taos News, Miera described the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement as “a very volatile issue” that “has the potential to really uproot our community.”
Miera sees the matter as “black and white,” he told Miller, because legally, state law enforcement cannot enforce federal law. But even if his department wanted to participate in the Section 287(g) program, Miera said his office’s resources are already spread too thinly to enforce federal policies effectively.
Taos is a rural county with a population of about 35,000, spread over an area slightly smaller than the state of Delaware. The largest incorporated community is the town of Taos, which has about 6,5000 residents. 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.
“We have our own issues to deal with,” Miera said. “And that’s inclusive of the documented citizens of Taos and the undocumented citizens of Taos who I have a statutory obligation to provide services for as well. My obligation to these people does not hinge on their immigration status.”
The issue of local law enforcement’s cooperation with ICE operations has also reached the New Mexico state legislature, with Democrats and Republicans each attempting to direct the responses of sheriff and police departments statewide.
On February 3, over 1,000 demonstrators rallied at the state capital in Santa Fe in support of immigration protections. The event was organized by non-profit immigration rights group Somos Un Pueblo Unido, and showed support for a number of bills that would protect personal privacy, end contracts with ICE detention centers, and restrict local and state cooperation with ICE.
Democratic legislators have introduced Senate Bill 250, which would prohibit “state and local agencies from expending resources to enforce federal immigration laws,” among other actions.
Meanwhile, Republican legislators introduced Senate Bill 87, which would prohibit “the adoption of any law, ordinance, rule, or regulation that prohibits or restricts the use of personnel or resources to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law or that interferes with the enforcement of federal immigration law.”
Both bills have been referred to the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee.
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[1] Url:
https://dailyyonder.com/trump-immigration-enforcement-policy-violates-constitution-taos-county-sheriff-says/2025/02/17/
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