Gina Auz celebrates after scoring in foosball with her son, John Patrick Granillo, left, during an open house at the Santa Fe Teen Center in October. Auz is a member of the newly reinstated city Immigration Committee.
Jessica Aguirre, an immigration attorney at the Santa Fe Dreamers Project, immediately noted a sense of anxiety from her clients and their families after Donald Trump’s November election to a second presidential term.
“It’s not just undocumented folks who are worried right now,” she said. “We’ve had legal permanent residents reach out to us and say, ‘Am I going to be deported?’ ”
When her boss at the nonprofit legal center asked if she would be interested in joining a city of Santa Fe advisory committee on immigration, she jumped at the chance.
Aguirre said she hopes the committee — revived after a pandemic-era lull — can suggest “reasonable and pragmatic” policies the city could implement to support local immigrants.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say … some kids would go home after school and their parents would no longer be there,” she said, referring to immigration enforcement during the first Trump administration. “What steps can we help community members take to prepare for the worst — obviously in hopes that it doesn’t come to the worst?”
Gina Auz celebrates after scoring in foosball with her son, John Patrick Granillo, left, during an open house at the Santa Fe Teen Center in October. Auz is a member of the newly reinstated city Immigration Committee.
The city’s immigrant advisory committee was created in 1999 as part of a ordinance declaring Santa Fe “a community where all persons will be treated equally with respect and dignity regardless of their immigration status.”
It largely has been dormant since the coronavirus pandemic, when many city advisory committees stopped meeting. City officials began the process of restarting it following the November election, and 10 members were appointed at Wednesday’s City Council meeting:
Along with Aguirre, the Immigration Committee members are:
Gina Auz, founder of the Latino Small Business Association and an immigrant from Ecuador.
Julie Ann Ball, a public defender in the First Judicial District.
Ivan Cornejo, a high school liaison for Santa Fe Public Schools’ program for homeless students and an immigrant from Mexico.
Marcela Díaz, executive director of Somos un Pueblo Unido.
Cipriana Jurado Herrera, co-founder of a Juárez-based human rights organization and Chainbreaker Collective volunteer.
The Rev. Ryan Lee, a priest at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, which has an English- and Spanish-language congregation.
Maria José Rodríguez Cádiz, executive director of Solace Sexual Assault Services and an immigrant from Spain.
Becky Rowley, president of Santa Fe Community College.
Marisol Suarez, clinical operations manager for La Familia Health.
María José Rodríguez Cádiz is the executive director of Solace Crisis Treatment Center, a sexual violence treatment and advocacy center in Santa Fe.
Gabriela Campos/New Mexican file photo
Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber said the first role of the Immigration Committee will be to discuss the most important actions the city should take.
“I think we need to work with this committee to launch a couple of education campaigns so that people know their rights and are aware of what their rights are under the law,” Webber said. “… I think it starts with a careful assessment of our existing resources, and then ways to do outreach, education and legal advice on the city’s policies and individuals’ legal rights.”
Webber said he solicited input on potential committee members from a range of community organizations involved with immigration issues.
When Rowley was contacted to see if anyone at the community college would be interested in serving on the panel, one name immediately came to mind: her own.
“Right now, immigration is a really critical issue for Santa Fe Community College and for the city,” she said. “We have a lot of students and staff that are very nervous about the potential of what’s going to probably happen, and I figured that this would be a really good way to not only be involved in any kind of city activities or responses, but to be informed about what’s going on as soon as it happens.”
The college declared itself a “sanctuary campus” for immigrants shortly after Trump’s first election.
With rumors flying in recent weeks about potential federal immigration raids and checkpoints, Webber said he believes making sure people have access to accurate and timely information is critical, which he thinks the committee will help provide.
“I think the people who are on it have outstanding credentials and experience and are looked on as trusted members of our community,” Webber said. “I think when they speak or when they listen to people in our immigrant community, they will be trusted, and they will be able to provide both a voice and also an ear for people.”
Díaz has served on the committee in the past. Over the last 20 years, she said, it has provided recommendations on city resolutions and ordinances and conducted outreach to inform people about their legal rights. It also worked closely with the Santa Fe Police Department and victims’ rights organizations to ensure there were good policies regarding interactions with immigrant communities.
After the 2016 presidential election, she said, the committee worked to ensure city agencies were not sharing residents’ sensitive personal information, such as immigration status, to outside entities except in special circumstances.
While Díaz said there is a strong sense of fear and anxiety in the immigrant community, many people are also taking action. The immigration committee can play a role in strengthening social networks and information-sharing, she added.
“The only way that we’re going to get through the next four years and not get deported and separated from our families is if we if we can really support each other and protect each other,” she said.
