On Sept. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a ban on federal immigration agents’ racial profiling practices of Spanish-speaking workers in Southern California. The decision prompted swift rebuke from New Mexico’s congressional delegation and Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who noted in a statement that the New Mexico Constitution protects people from “racial profiling by state, county and municipal law enforcement.” A few days later, Source New Mexico sat down with Zoe Bowman, the managing attorney of the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center’s asylum and detention team, to talk about the recent decision and other issues facing immigrants in the state.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and concision.
Source NM: How do you anticipate the SCOTUS ruling on racial profiling will impact New Mexico?
Bowman: The ruling allows [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to use factors like the color of someone’s skin, the language they’re speaking, their accent, where they are working or just where they are in the community as a reason to arrest or to detain someone. It really emboldens ICE to be able to arrest and detain a lot more people.
We appreciate when our elected officials [take] a stance against collaboration with ICE, especially in cases where it’s unlawful under the New Mexico Constitution.
A new report from the New Mexico Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on Sept. 8 recommended DHS close all three of the state’s detention centers. But Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham left immigration detention off of the special session agenda, saying lawmakers wanted more time in the interim to address it in the January 2026 session. What’s your response?
We recognize this is an urgent issue, but we’re ready to move forward in January [and support] the Immigrant Safety Act [which passed the state Legislature’s House of Representatives in the most recent session].
We know that more and more New Mexico residents are being caught up in the web of ICE enforcement and detention. This issue is only getting more urgent, more important, as ICE continues to threaten the safety and well being of New Mexico communities. That pressure is going to translate for lawmakers in New Mexico and in the upcoming legislative session in January, and we’re feeling hopeful we can pass it this year.
What does NMILC consider an emerging threat in immigration and detention in New Mexico?
New Mexico has a majority of people of color. This Supreme Court decision not only threatens the rights and the safety of people who are undocumented, but is really expansive and opens up more people to ICE enforcement actions. We’re very concerned about that and believe that justice shouldn’t depend on the color of your skin or the language that you speak.
This decision weakens a core constitutional protection in the Fourth Amendment, that protects everyone from unreasonable searches and detentions. It weakens protection, not just for folks who are undocumented, but for all of us.
