ABQ city council committee delays vote on ATF resolution

An Albuquerque City Council committee voted Monday evening to defer for 90 days a resolution asking New Mexico’s congressional delegation to push for an investigation of a 2016 federal law enforcement operation that netted a highly disproportionate number of black people. Councilor Pat Davis*, who sponsored the measure, cast the lone vote to send it […]

ABQ city council committee delays vote on ATF resolution

An Albuquerque City Council committee voted Monday evening to defer for 90 days a resolution asking New Mexico’s congressional delegation to push for an investigation of a 2016 federal law enforcement operation that netted a highly disproportionate number of black people.

Councilor Pat Davis*, who sponsored the measure, cast the lone vote to send it to the full City Council.

This story originally appeared at New Mexico In Depth and is used with permission.

Voting to defer the resolution were councilors Don Harris — who made the motion to delay the vote — Ken Sanchez, Brad Winter and Klarissa Peña. That means the council’s Finance and Government Operations Committee will rehear the resolution after 90 days during which time city officials hope to gather more information.

During discussion about the resolution, Sanchez asked what good it would do and why the congressional delegation couldn’t take up the issue on its own. Harris and Winter also wondered whether it was the city’s place to ask for a congressional investigation or chastise federal law enforcement.

“I agree with you, councilor,” Davis said to Sanchez about his observation that New Mexico’s congressional delegation could take up the issue itself. “Somebody should have taken this up a long time ago, … But this is a serious issue that’s causing real problems and not just here. And our community members are not being listened to.”

Davis filed the resolution following a multipart New Mexico In Depth investigation that raised numerous questions and concerns about the operation, which led to 103 arrests.

NMID found that the operation, led by the federal bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF), swept up a 27 percent African American defendant class in a city with a 3 percent black population. Further, in nearly every case, agents did not take down the “worst of the worst” criminals they said they were after.

The operation has led to legal challenges alleging racial profiling, as well as questions about the tactics ATF used to zero in on an impoverished, largely minority part of Southeast Albuquerque in its search for targets.

Before Monday’s vote by the committee, Davis invited black community leaders and families of people swept up in the sting to speak at an informal session.

Speaking in favor of the measure, Harold Bailey, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said his organization was “very concerned about how the operation was conducted.”

“Sometimes, you can do the right thing the wrong way,” Bailey said in response to a question from Councilor Diane Gibson.

Gibson, whose council district includes part of the area targeted by ATF, showed up to listen to members of the public comment on the operation. Speaking publicly for the first time about  the operation, Gibson said she was “disgusted” by how the agency appeared to target low-level drug offenders rather than kingpins.

Eric Nixon of the Sankofa Men’s Leadership Exchange said his group supports Davis’ resolution, which also would call on the ATF to stay away from Albuquerque in the future with operations like last year’s.

“This may have looked good on paper, but in the black community it absolutely did not,” he said.

Also speaking at the meeting were Dan and Denise “Scooter” Sullivan, whose daughter, Jennifer Padilla, was swept up in the sting by an ATF informant who had passed himself off as her boyfriend before luring her into participation in two drug deals.

“My daughter is a heroin addict,” Scooter Sullivan told Davis and Gibson before describing her dismay with how ATF targeted her daughter. “I don’t know what justice is anymore.”

Davis also invited several law enforcement officials to the informal meeting. He said Police Chief Gorden Eden and John Durastanti, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Phoenix field division, did not respond to the invitation.

James Tierney, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico, sent a letter in response to Davis’ invitation. It contains verbatim language from numerous emails the U.S. Attorney’s Office has sent to NMID denying requests for information about interviews concerning the sting operation.

Tierney said he could not speak publicly about the operation “because DOJ policy generally prohibits its component agencies, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the (ATF) from commenting on matters that are pending in the judicial process, including prosecutions that have yet to be resolved by guilty plea or jury verdict,” the letter reads, in part.

Tierney pointed out in the letter that 79 of the 103 people arrested in the operation have pleaded guilty to at least some of the charges they originally faced; 44 of them have been sentenced.

* Pat Davis is the executive director of ProgressNow New Mexico, which helps find funding for NM Political Report. Neither he nor anyone at ProgressNow New Mexico has any editorial input at NM Political Report, including on story selection. 

We're ad free

That means that we rely on support from readers like you. Help us keep reporting on the most important New Mexico Stories by donating today.

Related

Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List, a nonprofit that supports women candidates and reproductive rights, endorsed seven incumbents facing general election opponents in New Mexico legislative elections. All…
Equality New Mexico endorses 15 legislative candidates

Equality New Mexico endorses 15 legislative candidates

A New Mexico-based LGBTQ rights organization endorsed 15 candidates for state House and Senate seats for the 2024 elections.  Marshall Martinez, executive director of…
Lujan Grisham pocket vetoes two bills

Lujan Grisham pocket vetoes two bills

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham pocket vetoed two bills the legislature passed this legislative session: one changing the Cybersecurity Act and the other concerning law…
BLM announces final methane waste rule

BLM announces final methane waste rule

The federal Bureau of Land Management announced its final methane waste rule on Wednesday. These new regulations clamp down on the practice of venting…
What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

Migrating birds appear to have caused a virus in dairy cattle that is causing reduced milk production. So far, the disease, which initially started…
Republicans seek to limit national monument designations

Republicans seek to limit national monument designations

Republican-backed legislation in the U.S. Congress would make it harder for the government to designate new national monuments. The proposed Congressional Oversight of the…
Amid new graduation requirements, what do high schoolers want to learn?

Amid new graduation requirements, what do high schoolers want to learn?

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican The main things that bring Brayan Chavez to school every day: Seeing, talking to and engaging with…
Special ed teachers hope lawmakers OK pay raises, admin changes

Special ed teachers hope lawmakers OK pay raises, admin changes

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican Brittany Behenna Griffith has a laundry list of adjectives to describe the ideal special education teacher:…
Lawmakers must find consensus on competing education spending plans

Lawmakers must find consensus on competing education spending plans

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican A challenging task awaits New Mexico lawmakers in the next 30 days: Reconciling three very different…
Health workers fear it’s profits before protection as CDC revisits airborne transmission

Health workers fear it’s profits before protection as CDC revisits airborne transmission

Amy Maxmen, KFF Health News Four years after hospitals in New York City overflowed with covid-19 patients, emergency physician Sonya Stokes remains shaken by…
Lujan Grisham, Biden admin announce $10 million in federal funds for tribes, pueblos

Lujan Grisham, Biden admin announce $10 million in federal funds for tribes, pueblos

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Friday $10 million in funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act was awarded to six tribal nations and…
Proposal to curb executive powers moves to House Judiciary

Proposal to curb executive powers moves to House Judiciary

The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee discussed a potential constitutional amendment that seeks to limit the governor’s executive powers. The committee approved…
U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case about the regulations around mifepristone, one of a two-step regime for abortion medication, on Tuesday. FDA v.…
At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

Lawyers from the conservative Christian group that won the case to overturn Roe v. Wade are returning to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in pursuit…
Supreme Court to hear two abortion cases this spring

Supreme Court to hear two abortion cases this spring

Later this month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the case against the abortion medication mifepristone. It will hear a second…
New Mexico Medicaid to cover cost of over-the-counter oral contraception

New Mexico Medicaid to cover cost of over-the-counter oral contraception

New Mexico Medicaid announced on Wednesday that it will cover the cost of Opill, the first oral contraception approved for over-the-counter use. It is…
U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case about the regulations around mifepristone, one of a two-step regime for abortion medication, on Tuesday. FDA v.…
At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

At stake in mifepristone case: Abortion, FDA’s authority, and return to 1873 obscenity law

Lawyers from the conservative Christian group that won the case to overturn Roe v. Wade are returning to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in pursuit…
San Juan County, Navajo Nation settle redistricting case

San Juan County, Navajo Nation settle redistricting case

The Navajo Nation and San Juan County reached an agreement Monday about commission districts after the tribe alleged that its members were not adequately…
MIT ranks NM elections most well-run in the U.S.

MIT ranks NM elections most well-run in the U.S.

New Mexico’s 2022 election was ranked most well-run in the country by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Election Data and Science Lab’s Elections Performance Index.…
Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List endorses seven candidates for Legislature

Emily’s List, a nonprofit that supports women candidates and reproductive rights, endorsed seven incumbents facing general election opponents in New Mexico legislative elections. All…
BLM announces final methane waste rule

BLM announces final methane waste rule

The federal Bureau of Land Management announced its final methane waste rule on Wednesday. These new regulations clamp down on the practice of venting…
U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

U.S. Supreme Court hears case to restrict access to medication abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case about the regulations around mifepristone, one of a two-step regime for abortion medication, on Tuesday. FDA v.…
What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

What consumers, farmers should know about the flu impacting dairy cows

Migrating birds appear to have caused a virus in dairy cattle that is causing reduced milk production. So far, the disease, which initially started…

GET INVOLVED

© 2023 New Mexico Political Report