Bernalillo reaffirms its immigrant-friendly status

BERNALILLO — Bernalillo adopted a resolution affirming its status as an immigrant-friendly town in 2017 and reaffirmed it late last month in response to new state and federal guidelines on the issue.

The resolution shows support for immigrant families as well as other civil rights-related groups.

“A resolution affirming the town of Bernalillo’s Governing Body’s commitment to diversity and immigrant friendly status, and to safeguarding the civil rights, safety and dignity of all our residents, whether they be immigrants, war refugees, people of color, Muslims, Jews, LGBTQ people or people with disabilities,” it states.

The resolution was enacted after presidential executive orders in 2017 relating to immigration enforcement started to concern Bernalillo residents.

“Recent presidential executive orders relating to immigration enforcement have done nothing to allay those fears and, in fact, contain directives that threaten to lead to family separation, endanger refugees fleeing violence and persecution, strip immigrants of their due process and discriminate against the Muslim community,” the resolution says.

Now, Bernalillo applies it to the Mexican border. The 2017 resolution further reads that the enforcement policies violate constitutional law and states that Bernalillo welcomes and encourages immigrants to live, work and study in the town.

“... and participate in community affairs, and recognizes immigrants for their important contributions to our culture and economy,” it reads.

The full resolution can be found on the town of Bernalillo website.