ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez on Friday ordered the correction department to work with federal authorities on checking immigration status of inmates serving time in the states' prisons.
The governor's office said the administration of President Donald Trump asked New Mexico for permission to interview prisoners who were born in foreign countries.
The interviews by federal authorities are intended at expediting potential deportation proceedings of suspected immigrants living in the country illegally, said Michael Lonergan, a spokesman for Martinez.
"This is a matter of public safety, as these are all convicted criminals, many of a violent nature," Lonergan said.
Immigrant inmates determined by federal authorities to be in the country illegally will be deported promptly after finishing their sentences, Lonergan said.
Martinez issued the directive after the Trump Administration two weeks ago requested a list of inmates who were born in foreign countries. State officials said the corrections department has since provided U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with the list of foreign-born inmates and their convictions.
S.U. Mahesh, a spokesman for the New Mexico Corrections Department, said the agency allows any investigative law enforcement agency to interview prisoners.
"It's up to the inmates if they want to speak or not," he said.
Mahesh said the corrections department has 124 foreign-born prisoners. "But we don't ask inmates about their immigration statuses," Mahesh said.
Among the foreign-born prisoners are inmates convicted of first-degree murder, rape and credit card fraud. Many are from Mexico while a few are from the Middle East.
The Santa Fe-based immigrant rights advocacy group Somos Un Pueblo Unido said in a statement it did not believe the announcement changed policy.
The correction department "continues to tax an already overburdened criminal justice system and diverts scarce state resources to the enforcement of a broken immigration system," the group said.
There are 11 state run and privately-operated prisons overseen the New Mexico Corrections Department with about 7,300 inmates.
The governor's directive comes as the Democratic-controlled New Mexico Legislature debates a measure to ban state agencies from cooperating with the Trump Administration on immigration enforcement.
Some Democrats want to prevent New Mexico law enforcement from participating in any federal deportation plans or efforts to enforce federal immigration law.
Martinez' order also came at a time of heightened anxiety in immigrant communities over the Trump administration's stepped up immigration enforcement measures and its revised executive order temporarily banning travel to the U.S. from six Muslim majority countries.