BernCo District Attorney Sam Bregman scored some badly needed points with Dem primary voters when he came out swinging as he declared he "may prosecute" ICE for any "unconstitutional enforcement actions" in Bernalillo County. We know he scored because soon after Deb Haaland, the front-runner for the nomination, came with her own anti-ICE declaration.

But as a DA Bregman had the upper hand. He could actually do something to thwart the widely criticized ICE activity while Haaland could condemn it but do little but support pending legislation to rein ICE in. 

(CNN Bregman interview here.) 

As a first significant foray by centrist Bregman into progressive Dem territory--the heart of Haaland's support--this was a success. Another fatal shooting of a protestor by ICE agents on Friday in Minneapolis will only add to the import of the issue in the June primary. 

While Bregman again was tagged as "Showboat Sam" by his critics who asserted his threats were idle, his action received widespread praise on the socials and could serve to remind Haaland and other high-profile Democrats that their base voters are not satisfied with bromides and generalities when it comes to ICE. 

The urgency of immigration enforcement has also been on display at the Roundhouse as the House Consumer Affairs Committee approved 4 to 2 a measure to shut down the state's three ICE detention facilities. The anti-ICE intensity was driven home when Dems scoffed at the Alamogordo state rep whose district includes an ICE detention center that employs 300 and as he pleaded for those jobs to be spared. 

It wasn't that the committee Democrats did not care about those jobs. But it was eclipsed by the more urgent threat of ICE (and its actions elsewhere) that is felt so viscerally by so many of their constituents in this majority-minority state.

Today at the capital "hundreds of demonstrators if not more are expected to take to Santa Fe's streets for the Immigrant and Workers Day of Action. The march and rally comes amid growing pushback over Donald Trump's aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration."

This is indeed a baseline issue for state Democrats. As Bregman demonstrated there is little room for Dems seeking office this year to warm to ICE or ignore it. Those who take a leading opposition role stand to be rewarded.

HEATED ICE DEBATE

The heated immigration debate continues with our Jan.14 blog quoting an anonymous GOP reader tearing apart his own party and generating Dem push back. 

In reaction to the Dem proposal to ban ICE facilities here that Republican wrote: 

. . .This kind of virtue signaling is juvenile and provides an incredible opportunity for the NMGOP, if there actually was one. The Democrats have become the official party of illegal immigration. If the NMGOP had its stuff together, they could defeat Democrats across the board just on this issue. The only groups in favor of unfettered and unquestioned illegal immigration are far left white liberals, criminal illegal aliens and the cartels. In 2024 Hispanics moved toward Trump (especially Hispanic men who have to compete with illegals in the job market) because they're not in favor of it, either. 

In response Dem reader Barry Simon carried the Dem banner:

Let's start with this: "The Democrats have become the official party of illegal immigration." Really? Any proof sited? Meanwhile, what have the Republicans become in the shadow of the Trump Administration? Politicians with no backbone? Followers not leaders? Supporters of the president's authoritarian tendencies? Tariff lovers? Cheerleaders for illegally invading other countries? Justifiers of a citizen's murder by an ICE agent? Denier's of inflation? I could go on. 

The only groups in favor of unfettered and unquestioned illegal immigration are far left white liberals, criminal illegal aliens and the cartels. 

The only groups in favor of cutting healthcare for millions of Americans are all those supporters of Republicans who are already wealthy, still greedy, power seeking contributors to Trump's ballroom desecration of the White House and rich enough to afford private health care. 

In 2024 Hispanics moved toward Trump (especially Hispanic men who have to compete with illegals in the job market)... 

Either this person doesn't read the news or has their head buried deeply in the sand, but those same Hispanic men are moving away from Trump and the Republican party because of the economy and how it affects being able to put food on the table and pay their monthly expenses, including increased health insurance premiums all thanks to Trump's economic policies, fully supported by the Republican party. 

But the most egregious part of this person's posting is its "us against them" message, the very attitude that has gotten us into the current political mess. Instead of calling Democrats "far left white liberals" who are "the official party of illegal immigration," maybe working together to solve our country's problems might be the better path to finding a compromise that helps all Americans live a better life.

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.