New Mexico Democratic lawmakers’ comparisons of federal immigration enforcement to the Ku Klux Klan have drawn sharp criticism from Republican legislators, who say such rhetoric puts law enforcement officers at risk.
During this week’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee meetings, two Democratic lawmakers made inflammatory comments about Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
On Wednesday, Rep. Eleanor Chávez of Bernalillo County called ICE actions “fascism” and said the agency “is acting like the KKK.” That came a day after committee chair Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces compared masked ICE raids to “something we haven’t seen since the KKK days.”
The comments came hours before a reported shooting incident at an ICE detention facility in Dallas, according to a press release from Senate Republicans.
“The kind of comments made by Senator Cervantes are putting our law enforcement officers at risk, as evidenced by recent attacks against them,” Sharer said in a press release Wednesday. “These officers are doing what they’ve always done, under both Republican and Democrat administrations.”
Chávez made her remarks after hearing testimony about ICE agents reportedly working with local police in Anthony and near a Las Cruces school. She told the committee she fears daily for the safety of a young immigrant she took in and her neighbors in mixed-status families.
“I’m going to call it what it is. It’s fascism and ICE is acting like the KKK,” Chávez said, calling for stronger laws to prevent local and state police from collaborating with federal immigration enforcement.
Cervantes, speaking as committee chairman, referenced reports of nighttime raids and masked agents in mobile home parks during his remarks. He warned of potential lawsuits against governments over immigration enforcement actions.
“When children are being put on planes and people are being taken in the night, and people are raiding mobile home parks, and they’re doing it with masks, and you know, it’s something we haven’t seen since the KKK days,” Cervantes said.
Sharer referenced what he called “recent increases of violence against ICE agents around the nation” and mentioned families of agents being “put in harm’s way due to doxxing and public calls for violence.”
“The rhetoric designed to get ICE agents killed MUST stop,” Sharer said, also referencing “the assassination of Charlie Kirk” and calling on Cervantes to “stand down.”
The committee meeting was part of the legislature’s ongoing examination of immigration enforcement policies and their impact on New Mexico communities near the U.S.-Mexico border.