Mayor Keller defends Albuquerque's immigrant-friendly ordinance targeted in federal lawsuit

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]If you commit a crime in Albuquerque, if you stab someone, you will be arrested and taken to jail. It does not matter what your status is.

[00:00:08]>> Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller is standing by the city's newest immigrantfriendly ordinance. Despite facing a lawsuit dropped by the feds, the US Department of Justice filed a civil complaint yesterday against the city claiming their safer community places ordinance obstructs immigrant enforcement.

[00:00:28]That ordinance, which passed in March, bans ICE agents from using city properties as a staging area, operation base, or a processing location.

[00:00:39]>> We're not saying ICE can't exist in Albuquerque. That would be illegal. Uh even if we want to do that, like that would be illegal. We're just saying they can't use city property. That is illegal. That's what we're saying. The state of New Mexico is also listed in the lawsuit for House Bill 9, which bans local governments from going into contracts with ICE. The DOJ says both the city and the state are violating the supremacy clause, which allows federal law to overrule state and local law.

[00:01:08]>> Yes, federal laws trump all other laws, but they can't tell us what to do, and they can't tell our people what to do, and they can't tell us what to do with our buildings. The complaint also says the laws passed are discriminatory against the federal government.

[00:01:21]>> These are technicalities they're arguing over and we'll fight and I think we're going to win. But they're not even questioning our general approach.

[00:01:28]>> Part of the ordinance would include adding signs that restrict ICE agents from conducting their operations on city property. The city says if the DOJ wins, those signs are the only things at stake. What we're going to do is move to dismiss because we shouldn't have to spend any time or money on this lawsuit.

[00:01:46]Um, but there there'll be no ruling initially that would affect us in any way.

[00:01:50]>> The DOJ has pressured the city to drop its immigrantfriendly status where the city does not track citizen status and will not work with ICE. Keller remains committed to his policies and laws.

[00:02:03]>> We want our families to be able to go to church, to call 911 if they're in trouble, all without fear. We want kids to get picked up at school. We want our city to be able to function.