The Trump administration is done talking. It is now hauling New Mexico and Albuquerque into federal court.

The Justice Department announced Thursday that the United States has filed a complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction against the State of New Mexico, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Attorney General Raul Torrez, the City of Albuquerque, and Mayor Timothy Keller. The case, United States v. State of New Mexico et al., No. 1:26-cv-01471, is now before the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.

At the center of the dispute are two measures the DOJ says are designed to sabotage federal immigration enforcement: New Mexico’s HB9, branded the “Immigrant Safety Act,” and Albuquerque’s ordinance O-26-15, known as the “Safer Community Places Ordinance.” The Justice Department alleges both laws violate federal supremacy and infringe on authority that belongs exclusively to the federal government under the Constitution.

The Justice Department laid out the federal case in detail:

The United States filed its complaint and preliminary injunction motion against the State of New Mexico, Governor Lujan Grisham, Attorney General Torrez, the City of Albuquerque, and Mayor Keller, alleging that New Mexico’s HB9 and Albuquerque’s Safer Community Places Ordinance infringe on federal immigration enforcement authority. The department says HB9 would abolish long-standing voluntary partnerships between local governments and federal authorities that have helped enforce immigration law for years. Both measures, the department says, seek to prevent federal agents from using local government property to carry out immigration enforcement work. The Albuquerque ordinance goes further still: DOJ alleges it unlawfully requires private businesses to tip off illegal aliens about impending federal enforcement activity. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate stated that “New Mexico is attempting to regulate immigration policy, something the federal government is clearly and uniquely empowered by the Constitution” to control. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison added that the state and city “seek to intentionally obstruct federal law enforcement by preventing cooperation between local governments and the federal government.” The department also warned that HB9 jeopardizes nearly 300 jobs and the economy of Otero County by barring public entities from participating in federal immigration detention within the state.

The Otero County jobs point turns the case from a Washington legal fight into a local economic fight. DOJ is saying New Mexico’s law goes beyond political opposition to federal immigration enforcement. It could cut directly into a county economy built around federal detention work and the families attached to those jobs.

The business tip-off allegation is particularly brazen. The DOJ says Albuquerque’s ordinance compels private businesses to alert illegal aliens when federal immigration enforcement is underway. If that allegation holds up in court, a city government was effectively conscripting the private sector into an early-warning system for people evading federal law.

The Justice Department complaint makes the legal stakes concrete:

The complaint and preliminary injunction motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico convert this sanctuary-policy dispute from political posturing into live federal litigation. The government is asking the court to declare the state and city measures invalid under the Constitution and to issue immediate injunctive relief while the case proceeds. The filing posture puts the dispute in front of a federal judge instead of leaving it as a public objection to New Mexico and Albuquerque. DOJ is asking the court to stop provisions the government says are blocking cooperation with immigration operations, restricting access to local government property, and interfering with federal authority.

The factual and legal claims are still allegations by the United States. The defendants can answer them in court, and no determination of liability has been made. But the court filing gives the administration a concrete path to challenge sanctuary-style obstruction before those policies become the operating rule on the ground.

It is important to note that the claims in this lawsuit are allegations. No court has ruled on the merits, and there has been no determination of liability against any defendant. What has happened is that the federal government has moved from rhetoric to litigation, and a federal judge will now decide whether New Mexico and Albuquerque have crossed the constitutional line.

Governor Lujan Grisham, Attorney General Torrez, and Mayor Keller will have their day in court. But the political calculus behind sanctuary laws looks different when you are sitting across the aisle from the United States Department of Justice with a preliminary injunction bearing down on you.

The Trump administration has made clear that states do not get to run their own immigration policy. New Mexico decided to test that. Now a federal courtroom will settle the question.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
 

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