WASHINGTON (LN) — The Justice Department sued New Mexico, its governor, its attorney general, and the City of Albuquerque on Thursday, asking a federal court to immediately block two sanctuary laws it alleges unconstitutionally dismantle local cooperation with federal immigration authorities and require private businesses to alert immigrants to nearby enforcement operations.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico as United States v. State of New Mexico et al., No. 1:26-cv-01471, targets House Bill 9 — the state's "Immigrant Safety Act" — and Albuquerque City Ordinance O-26-15, the "Safer Community Places Ordinance." Named defendants include Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Attorney General Raul Torrez, and Mayor Timothy Keller.
The federal government contends HB9 dismantles voluntary cooperation agreements between local governments and federal immigration authorities that have operated in New Mexico for decades. Both laws, the government alleges, bar federal agents from using any local government property to conduct enforcement work.
The Albuquerque ordinance goes further, the government alleges, by requiring private businesses to notify undocumented immigrants of nearby immigration enforcement activity — conduct the Justice Department characterizes as harboring and shielding people from detection by federal agents.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison said the state and city "seek to intentionally obstruct federal law enforcement by preventing cooperation between local governments and the federal government," adding that the two laws "unlawfully interfere with federal immigration enforcement, illegally discriminate against federal operations, and violate constitutional protections regarding contracts and federal supremacy." He also said HB9's prohibition on public entities participating in federal immigration detention "jeopardizes nearly 300 jobs and the economy of Otero County."
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Civil Division framed the challenge in Supremacy Clause terms. "New Mexico is attempting to regulate immigration policy, something the federal government is clearly and uniquely empowered by the Constitution to do," he said.
The Justice Department's motion for a preliminary injunction asks the court to halt enforcement of both laws while the case proceeds. The government has not yet obtained any ruling; the allegations have not been adjudicated and no determination of liability has been made.
Thursday's action is the latest in a series of sanctuary-jurisdiction suits the department has pursued since Attorney General Pam Bondi published a list of sanctuary jurisdictions in August 2025 — a list that included Albuquerque — and vowed to bring litigation to end such policies nationwide.