Albuquerque passes new measures making it harder to deport illegal immigrants

New measures passed this week in Albuquerque, N.M., will make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to be deported.

The city’s council passed a measure by a 6-3 vote that bars federal immigration officials who do not have a warrant from going into city-operated areas, Reuters reported.

Measures passed by the majority-Democratic council also make it so city workers are prohibited from taking information on people’s immigration status.

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Nearly 50 percent of the population in Albuquerque is Hispanic or Latino, according to Reuters. A Pew Research study found that New Mexico has one of the highest levels of immigrants in the county illegally in the United States.

The new measures come after a federal judge last week sided with the city of Los Angeles, ruling that the Department of Justice can’t factor “sanctuary city” policies into decisions over how to award local policing grants.

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real agreed with the city’s argument that the Justice Department was abusing its power in basing grant awards on whether a municipality’s police force cooperated with federal immigration officers.

The court ruling was the latest blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on sanctuary cities, which do not direct their local police forces to work with federal forces to enforce immigration law.