The Institute for Justice sues the City of Albuquerque over civil asset forfeiture

During the 2015 legislative session, the Rio Grande Foundation along with the NM branch of the Drug Policy Alliance, the ACLU, and the Institute for Justice worked successfully to reform New Mexico’s abusive civil asset forfeiture laws. Unfortunately, the City of Albuquerque is ignoring the law. According to the case being brought by the Institute for Justice, “In Albuquerque, police and prosecutors continue to use civil forfeiture and have even announced plans to purchase a new, bigger parking lot to hold all the cars they expect to seize—a parking lot that will be paid for through civil forfeiture.”

We are excited to be able to continue to work with IJ, but wish that Albuquerque’s elected leaders including Mayor Berry and City Council would adhere to the law without threat of a lawsuit.