Immigration advocates are petitioning the Supreme Court in New Mexico in a bid to have them enact new rules to make it more difficult for people suspected of living illegally in the US from being detained at state courthouses by federal authorities.
On Wednesday (August 29, 2018), a group of advocates gathered outside the Metropolitan Courthouse in Albuquerque with petitions that included dozens of signatures from retired judges and attorneys. Advocates want to see agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement banned from serving administrative warrants anywhere near a courthouse and instead be forced to gain a judicial warrant signed by a judge. Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement often make arrests with the authority of administrative warrants written by agents rather than judges.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, the petition is also requesting the creation of a new rule that would enable courts to issue individuals who are fearful of being subjected to civil detention in or close to courthouses with writs of protection.
The petition also includes a list of instances in which undocumented immigrants have been taken into custody inside or close to courthouses since last year. Almost 250 attorneys in New Mexico lent their signatures to the petition, as did 40 law firms, many legal associations, faith-based and community organizations, and retired state and Supreme Court judges, such as Susan Conway, Peggy Nelson, Eugenio Mathis, Edward Chavez, and Richard Bosson.