On January 21, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Field Office Director Bill Shaw and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placing the federal agency on notice that he will prosecute ICE agents who detain, confine or restrains any person in Bernalillo county without a warrant. DA Bregman emphasized that ICE agents could be prosecuted under New Mexico law for the felony of “false imprisonment”.
The full letter sent to ICE Assistant Field Office Director Bill Shaw is as follows:
“Dear Mr. Shaw,
I write to express my deep concern about ICE procedures and operations across the country. Videos and the accompanying reporting raise significant questions about ICE’s willingness and ability to comply with constitutional limitations while performing their duties. These incidents further undermine confidence in ICE leadership’s commitment to ensuring basic due process for the public that they serve.
ICE’s nationwide pattern of unconstitutional enforcement actions give rise to questions and unease about ICE activity in New Mexico. Specifically, certain activity by ICE agents reported in other states would be criminal under the laws of New Mexico.
False imprisonment is a felony under New Mexico law. NMSA 1978, § 30-4-3 provides: “False imprisonment consists of intentionally confining or restraining another person without his consent and with knowledge that he has no lawful authority to do so.”
There is no exception under New Mexico law for law enforcement officers who detain or restrain a person without lawful authority. Unless an ICE Officer has a valid warrant, lawful authority for restraint or detention under New Mexico and Federal law requires either reasonable suspicion or probable cause.
Therefore, any ICE agent who, without a signed warrant and without reasonable suspicion or probable cause, detains, confines or restrains a person in Bernalillo County may be subject to prosecution.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.”
Sam Bregman
Second Judicial District Attorney
On Wednesday January 21, Bregman told the Albuquerque Journal that he has received no response to his letter to Shaw. Further, the Journal reported it did not receive a response to a request for comment from Albuquerque officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security which oversees ICE.
Bregman said he wrote the letter in response to videos and news reports about ICE activities in other states. Bregman said his letter was not prompted by any specific incidents in New Mexico. Bregman said this:
“I’m trying to get ahead of this so that it’s very clear. … I’m not going to sit by and watch anybody violate the law and turn a blind eye to it. To the contrary, we’re going to hold people accountable, and that means everybody.”
On January 21, The Associated Press (AP) reported that ICE officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant according to an internal ICE memo and whistleblower complaint. The memo, signed by acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, states that administrative warrants signed by an agency official are sufficient for forced entry if there’s a final order of removal. The change reverses previous guidance and raises concerns about constitutional protections against illegal searches.
DA Sam Bregman’s letter to ICE quotes New Mexico’s false imprisonment statute as follows:
“False imprisonment consists of intentionally confining or restraining another person without his consent and with knowledge that he has no lawful authority to do so. … Whoever commits false imprisonment is guilty of a fourth degree felony.”
https://law.justia.com/codes/new-mexico/chapter-30/article-4/section-30-4-3/
Under New Mexico law, the felony crime of False Imprisonment is a fourth-degree felony which carries a basic sentence of 18 months in prison and up to two years. The New Mexico false imprisonment law contains no exception for law enforcement officers. Therefore, any ICE agent who, without a signed warrant and without reasonable suspicion or probable cause, detains, confines or retrains a person in Bernalillo County may be subject to prosecution.
Bregman said that videos and news reports from other states show ICE officers engaging in racial profiling by arbitrarily pulling over Hispanic people and demanding to know where they were born. Bregman said this:
“We are a majority Hispanic state. … I represent the biggest populated county in the state. I’m laying this down to make sure everybody knows that we’re not going to tolerate whoever they are violating our criminal statutes.”
BREGMAN’S CNN INTERVIEW
On the January 21 broadcast of CNN’s “The Story Is,” Bernalillo County District Attorney discussed his threat to arrest ICE agents in the Bernalillo County and said this:
“If someone commits a violent felony in our county, we’re going to prosecute them, regardless of their legal status. We’re going to absolutely do everything we can to hold them accountable. At the same token, ICE agents aren’t going to come in and start committing crimes in our county. [If an ICE agent detains someone with] no warrant, no reasonable suspicion, no probable cause, therefore, you cannot involuntarily restrain someone, which means you’re committing a crime of false imprisonment. I absolutely will prosecute. … ICE has some footprint in New Mexico, like they do everywhere, I work with federal law enforcement agencies, state law enforcement agencies, every single day. Many of them, as well as [I], are horrified by what they’re seeing out there. There [are] a lot of great law enforcement agents out there right now. But what ICE is doing, what we’re seeing across the country, is not going to happen in New Mexico.”
CNN host Elex Michaelson asked Bregman this:
“Do you believe in working with them in the jails and working with them behind bars to turn over people who are criminals who have been convicted?”
Bregman answered this:
“Listen, I will tell you right now that I don’t — if someone commits a violent felony in our county, we’re going to prosecute them, regardless of their legal status. We’re going to absolutely do everything we can to hold them accountable. At the same token, ICE agents aren’t going to come in and start committing crimes in our county.”
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/da-warrantless-ice-detentions-violate-nm-law/2965779
https://www.koat.com/article/ice-officers-charges-threatened-new-mexico/70094117
https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/bernalillo-county-da-warns-ice-agents-of-prosecution-without-warrant/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/da-warrantless-ice-detentions-violate-041500884.html
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
There is absolutely no doubt that ICE is already present in Albuquerque and are taking very aggressive actions and taking people into custody. At least two eyewitnesses have reported seeing in Albuquerque ICE vehicles being transported into the city.
It was on July 7, 2025 that an altercation occurred between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detaining and tasing a man inside the Albuquerque Walmart located at 2550 Coors Blvd. NW. The video taken of the incident reveals three ICE agents, two of whom are masked, subdue the man with a Taser and took him into custody. The 20-second video went viral and received national media attention. Protests erupted in the City over the ICE action
https://www.yahoo.com/news/video-ice-uses-taser-detain-182811140.html
Albuquerque and New Mexico are already on Trump’s radar to retaliate against. The Trump Administration has already falsely declared Albuquerque a Sanctuary City and is withholding federal funding to the city. Recently, Trump declared New Mexico elections to be corrupt and rigged.
There should be no doubt that what Bernalillo County DA Bregman said about ICE tactics was necessary given the killings of two people by ICE in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There have already been protests in Albuquerque over the killings. The fact that the city and state are Hispanic minority-majority and strongly Democrat puts a target on our backs and makes it very likely ICE will soon increase enforcement actions here. The fact that New Mexico is a border state also increases the odds that New Mexico is on the radar.
It is more likely than not the threat of prosecution of ICE agents by DA Bregman will embolden ICE to do even more in the State. The biggest question is if the Albuquerque Police Department (APD), the Bernalillo County Sherriff (BCSO) and for that matter the New Mexico State Police will back DA Bregman up when the time comes and if they are prepared to react to ICE enforcement actions with tactical plans and arrest ICE agents?
DA Sam Bregman and Attorney General Raul Torrez, and perhaps with the assistance of the New Mexico ACLU, would be wise to initiate a Federal Civil Rights class action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE as a preemptive strike to secure restraining orders requiring ICE agents to follow New Mexico law. The injunctive relief should include ICE being required to secure court orders to make arrests, wear body cameras during their operations and remove masks and identify themselves during their enforcement actions.
The actions of ICE need to be condemned and stopped in no uncertain terms and before New Mexico citizens are killed and the City and State become a national headline.