Accomplishments

  • El CENTRO organized our base to support tax reform-- including tax credits and rebates-- which is inclusive of immigrant taxpayers. This led to hundreds of millions of dollars being reinvested in the essential workers who are the cornerstone of our economy.

  • El CENTRO, as part of the Healthy Workforce NM Coalition, organized workers to pass the Healthy Workplaces Act of 2021, resulting in over 250,000 New Mexican workers having coverage for the first time.

  • El CENTRO, in collaboration with our Economic Relief Working Group, secured over $37.5 million dollars in government administered relief for immigrant workers and families excluded from federal COVID-Relief and unemployment. This includes leading campaign in Bernalillo County and Albuquerque totaling over $9.6 million distributed locally.

  • Organized domestic workers as part of a broader coalition to pass legislation to include domestic workers in minimum wage protections in New Mexico, a historic step in dismantling historically racist exclusions dating back to slavery for domestic workers.

  • El CENTRO’s members organize with a broad statewide coalition to raise New Mexico’s wages from $7.50- $12.00 in phases by 2023.

  • El CENTRO and partner organizations filed an injunction to require DWS to enforce the law and investigate wage theft claims during the Martinez administration.

  • El CENTRO and OLE co-led successfully garnered support to pass an ordinance to raise the minimum wage from $7.50 to $8.50 in phases with an automatic cost of living increase starting in 2015. In 2017 both organizations, represented by the NM Center on Law and Poverty, won a motion to dismiss a lawsuit attempting to overturn the ballot initiative.

  • El CENTRO supported a ballot initiative, passed with with overwhelming support, to raise the minimum wage to $8.50 in Albuquerque with cost of living adjustments beginning in 2014.

  • El CENTRO led a campaign to ensure that APS policy directives were clear regarding undocumented students' constitutional rights to an education, that data was safeguarded and not shared with federal officials, and that ICE is not allowed access to APS campus.

  • El CENTRO worked with MALDEF and organized parents from Del Norte Highschool and El CENTRO members to secure changes in policy in a lawsuit settlement with the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) which included new standard operating procedures that prohibit officers from inquiring into immigration status.

  • Played the lead role in Albuquerque supporting a statewide campaign, spearheaded by Somos un Pueblo Unido, to pass a law-making undocumented immigrants eligible for drivers’ licenses in New Mexico, a foundational policy laying the groundwork for future immigrants’ rights campaigns in New Mexico.

  • El CENTRO (which was born out of Enlace Comunitario) has lead over 6 campaigns to pass and strengthen Albuquerque and Bernalillo County’s Immigrant-Friendly (sanctuary) policies aimed at ensuring that all residents have access to City services, that the civil rights of all communities are upheld, and that no local resources are used to identify, detain, and deport fellow Burqueños.