Bernalillo County, NM Immigration Policy: Sanctuary Policy Preemption (2026)
Key Facts
- Adopted
- Ord. No. 2025-33, effective 11-18-2025
- Applies to
- designated "safer community places" only
- County policy deadline
- 30 days for entry-consent rules
- Business safety-plan deadline
- 90 days, businesses with 5+ employees
- Worker I-9 notice
- within 24 hours of inspection notice
- Enforcement
- county administrative policy, not a stated fine
Summary
Bernalillo County's Safer Community Places law (Ch. 51, Ord. No. 2025-33, adopted Nov. 18, 2025) bars designated hospitals, schools, shelters and county facilities from giving law enforcement voluntary consent to enter non-public areas or access student/patient records for immigration enforcement, absent a judicial warrant, subpoena, or a genuine safety emergency.
Pursuant to this affirmation and the aforementioned authority of the county, the county shall develop the necessary policies within 30 days of passage of this ordinance [from which this chapter derives] to prohibit a safer community place from providing voluntary consent to law enforcement agents engaged in or supporting immigration enforcement from:(1)Entering non-public areas; or(2)Accessing, reviewing or obtaining student or patient records.a.This section does not prohibit a safer community place from complying with a valid judicial warrant authorizing a search of such records or a valid judicial subpoena or judicial order compelling production of such records, orb.Providing consent to enter a safer community place under exigent circumstances (involving an imminent threat to bodily harm or where law enforcement are in immediate pursuit of a suspect who has imminently fled into a private area).
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 92).
Full Breakdown
Chapter 51, added by Ordinance No. 2025-33 on November 18, 2025, designates specific locations as "safer community places" under Section 51-2: hospitals and health care facilities; schools and places children routinely gather; disaster and emergency response sites; county-owned or operated facilities; community resource centers including shelters, legal-service and human-trafficking-victim providers; work zones and construction sites on county property or rights-of-way; and any other location the county later designates for the same purpose. Section 51-3(a) directs the county manager to adopt, within 30 days of enactment, a policy barring these places from giving law enforcement agents engaged in immigration enforcement voluntary consent to enter non-public areas or to access student or patient records, while preserving compliance with a valid judicial warrant, subpoena or order, and preserving consent in an exigent emergency involving imminent bodily harm or immediate pursuit of a fleeing suspect.
Section 51-3(b) requires staff training and posted signage marking non-public spaces in county buildings, plus outreach offering model policy language to other facility operators. Section 51-4 gives the county manager 90 days to require businesses that register or re-register with the county to post signage marking private space, and to require businesses with five or more employees to adopt a written "safety plan" protecting workers and customers from unwanted law-enforcement intrusion into private business areas. Section 51-5 imposes worker-notification duties on employers: 24-hour notice of any government I-9 records inspection identifying the agency, notice date and inspection scope; a further 24-hour notice to any employee found to lack sufficient work authorization, describing the deficiency, correction timeline and right to representation; and separate 24-hour notice to all workers if an immigration enforcement agent appears at the workplace outside an I-9 inspection.
Violations & Fines
Chapter 51 does not itself set a criminal fine; it operates through mandated county and employer policy deadlines. The county manager had 30 days from Nov. 18, 2025 to adopt the entry-consent policy, 90 days to require business signage and safety plans, and three months to publish worker-notice templates. Employers who skip the required 24-hour I-9 or enforcement-presence notices are out of compliance with Section 51-5, which the county enforces through the administrative and business-registration policies the ordinance directs it to build, rather than a stated fine in the chapter's text.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Bernalillo County prohibit its employees from cooperating with ICE?
Which places count as a "safer community place"?
Do local employers have to warn workers about an I-9 audit?
What must a business do if immigration agents show up at the workplace itself?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bernalillo County
Compare Bernalillo County to another location·View the New Mexico immigration policy overview
See something wrong?
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.