New Mexico Attorneys File Motion in Immigration Lawsuit

Attorneys for a New Mexico county jail filed a motion in an immigration lawsuit involving the detaining of illegal immigrants. The motion seeks to prevent the U.S. government from removing itself as a defendant in an ongoing immigration lawsuit. Attorneys with the San Juan County jail allege that federal authorities are seeking to “disclaim responsibility” for its previous practice of using local jails to detain suspected illegal immigrants. Federal authorities suspended the practice due to the ongoing immigration lawsuit.

Details on the Immigration Lawsuit

The practice of using local jails as immigration detention centers was suspended last November due to an immigration lawsuit filed by the activist group Somos Un Pueblo Unido (“We Are A United People”). The immigration lawsuit claims that three Mexican immigrants, who were all detained on minor traffic violations, were held in the San Juan County Jail for several days. The activist group claims that the practice denied the immigrants of the constitutional rights to due process.

Somos Wants Feds Out Of Immigration Lawsuit

The Somos group filed the initial immigration lawsuit against the San Juan County Jail and the county’s Board of Commissioners. Last March, a federal judge ruled that the immigration lawsuit sought to change U.S. immigration policy. Therefore, federal immigration authorities should also be named as defendants. Attorneys for the Somos group claim that the suit does not change immigration policy and that the federal government should not be included as a defendant in the immigration lawsuit.

County Jail Files Immigration Lawsuit Motion

Last month, a motion filed by the U.S. Department of Justice claimed that the issue is moot. Since the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office has discontinued its practices of detaining suspected illegal immigrants in local jails, the immigration lawsuit is now pointless. Attorneys for the San Juan County Jail filed the motion last week to stop the Somos group’s attempts to exclude federal authorities from the immigration lawsuit. County attorneys want to exchange evidence with federal officials before the case is declared moot.

Source: Farmington (NM) Daily Times

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