Gov. MLG: New Mexico won’t cooperate in 'inhumane, cruel, unfair, discriminate' Trump deportation policies

City Desk staff report

This article was first published by City Desk ABQ.

If President-elect Donald Trump makes good on his plan to deport millions of people living illegally in the country, he’ll have to do it without the help of New Mexico, says Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.

While President-elect Trump’s transition team has provided few details on how they would make good on his promise to identify, roundup and deport an estimated 11 million people, transition officials say the the federal government cannot do it alone.

Trump “would marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers,” a spokesperson for the Trump transition recently told the Associated Press.

“We are not going to cooperate”

During an appearance Thursday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Lujan Grisham said New Mexico will not cooperate with Trump’s plan.

“We ought to be working on making sure that violent criminal activity is stopped everywhere,” the governor told Jen Psaki. “Disrupting family status and the economy, inhumane, cruel, unfair, discriminate policies that, again, are illegal on their face. We are not going to cooperate in any way in that effort.”

Trump promised to deport as many as 11 million immigrants, possibly by using military resources to help.

Three of four border states are led by Democratic governors. New Mexico, Arizona and California have all pledged not to cooperate in mass roundup programs.