Albuquerque Council weighs immigrant friendly measure

The Albuquerque City Council plans to vote on a measure Monday evening that would prevent federal immigration officers from entering a prisoner transport center without a warrant, and prohibit local tax dollars from being used to enforce federal immigration laws.

The measure seeks to bolster the New Mexico city’s “immigrant friendly” status – which briefly came under scrutiny within the Trump administration last year as the Justice Department sought to pressure cities into cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

The Albuquerque measure would also bar city workers, including police, from collecting information on peoples’ immigration status.

The vote comes after a federal judge last week issued a nationwide injunction barring the U.S. Justice Department from giving priority status for policing grants to departments that agree to cooperate with immigration officials.