Hundreds of people protested on Tuesday, April 8 outside the sheriff's office in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, to protest what they consider to be an abuse in measures against immigrants.
Armed with signs and slogans in Spanish reading "la poli-migra", among others, the protesters organized by the Border Network for Human Rights denounced that the police personnel has decided to apply immigration law during traffic stops.
According to The Albuquerque Journal, the protestors consider that Doña Ana County officers are acting as federal immigration agents during traffic infraction stops, by asking about immigration status and asking them for their social security number.
According to the same source, the sheriff's office denied these accusations and said that its agents do not overstep their functions as a police force by applying immigration law.
Kelly Jameson, spokesperson for the community's police department told the press that "we don't act as federal immigration agents. We defend the law we vowed to protect," reported Las Cruces News.
Despite assuring that the immigration status of those detained "is not our business", Jameson said that police officers must register the traffic infractions which are detected, and the identity of the people must be corroborated with any kind of identification.
Jameson said that police must ask the people for an ID, such as a driver's license or other IDs to confirm they don't have a warrant or criminal record.
Despite these explanations, Border Network for Human Rights presented a request to the agency i which it demands that officers be banned from asking about immigration status and to release how often the police call Border Patrol during traffic stops, according to The Albuquerque Journal.