The criminalization of immigration through policies such as the “Zero Tolerance” policy has swelled the numbers of people in U.S. detention centers. Recent reports have exposed the inhumane conditions in these centers, including those that have caused dozens of deaths. Many people have contested the very existence of these detention centers, given these abysmal conditions, and have called for investigation and a total reassessment of the mass detention of asylum seekers and immigrants. When faced with this criticism, one of the main defenses of government officials in states and counties where the centers are located is that they make economic sense. The centers, it is argued, bring revenue and jobs to areas that need them. This IPS report punctures this myth by looking into a large immigrant detention center in rural New Mexico run by CoreCivic, one of the largest private corporations running prisons and detention centers. The authors find that the economic and jobs arguments are grossly overstated for multiple reasons.

This ordinance requires that upon receipt of a 'No-Match' letter, the City of Santa Fe will take no adverse action against any city employee listed on the notice, including firing, laying off, suspending, retaliating, or discriminating against any such employee, and that the City of Santa Fe will not ask any employee, either orally or in writing, to provide documentation to re-verify immigration status, except as required by law.

This ordinance establishes ranked choice voting elections in the City of Las Cruces, commencing with the regular municipal election in November 2019 and all subsequent elections. The City Council choice ranked-choice runoff elections, as opposed to to-two runoff elections, because ranked choice voting elections provide cost savings to the city, does not require an additional election for a runoff, and provides voters with more choices.

Tax incentives given in the name of economic development are the dominant form of spending for job creation in New Mexico; these types of tax incentives are also the least transparent and most poorly monitored. Thus, in response to New Mexico’s costly, ineffective, and insufficiently disclosed tax incentives, this report recommends the following changes: the state should ensure internet sales are taxed, adopt combined reporting for all multistate corporate entities, close the Locomotive Fuel Sales Tax Exemption, disclose online the costs and benefits of each economic development incentive deal for all its incentive programs, and more.

This ordinance states that the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center will not detain any inmate and will not delay the otherwise authorized release of any inmate, as a result of detainer requests or administrative warrants received by ICE. An immigration detainer request or an administrative warrant shall not inhibit an inmate’s ability to post bond.

This resolution places proposed charter amendment language on the ballot. The ballot language establishes voluntary limits on campaign spending and equal public financing of campaigns for elections, allows participating candidates for Mayor and Council to voluntarily limit their campaign spending and receive an equal amount of public financing from the General Fund for each office and to agree not to accept or spend private campaign contributions, requires the City Attorney and City Clerk to administer the system with strict accountability to assure that all funds are used in the manner for which they are intended.

The ordinance requires the city and all qualifying businesses to pay employees a living wage. It also requires that they index minimum wage increases to the consumer price index for the western region for urban wage earners and clerical workers.

This ordinance establishes a county minimum wage of $8.00 per hour effective July 1, 2013 and $8.50 per hour effective July 1, 2014, with further increases on January 1, 2015 and annually thereafter based on the annual percentage increase in the CPI as of the preceding October 15. The minimum wage is binding on all non-tipped employment positions taxable by the county. An employer who pay health care or childcare benefits to an employee at least equal to an annualized cost of $2500 may pay that employee $1.00 per hour less than the minimum wage. The ordinance also allows for posting at work sites, record-keeping, civil enforcement, recovery, and penalties for violators.

This ordinance prohibits any person, group of persons and/or association from engaging in picketing focused on and taking place in front of or next to a particular residence, without the express prior consent of the occupant(s). The intention of the ordinance is to protect physicians who provide reproductive health services from harassment in their homes.

The ordinance outlines the Santa Fe Residential Green Building Code, which requires all new single family residential units to be tested and certified according to adopted energy standards. The code offers eight levels of certification and requires each new residence to achieve a minimum point total for each section and level of green building.