A proposed ordinance that would have required Santa Fe County jail employees to cooperate more fully with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials was shot down Tuesday by the County Commission.

Commissioner Robert Anaya, who brought the measure forth, was the only one who voted to publish the ordinance and schedule it for a public hearing.

The other four commissioners voted against the law in part, they said, because it was overkill to address the issue with an ordinance -- which carries criminal penalties -- when a resolution would suffice.

The ordinance was aimed at curbing ongoing conflict between ICE officials -- who say county jail personnel don't facilitate the federal agency's attempts to apprehend "criminal aliens" as much as they can -- and jail officials, who say ICE agents are disruptive when they enter the jail.

Santa Fe County complies with documented requests from ICE to hold persons of interest for 48 hours after they would normally be eligible for release to allow ICE time to catch up with the inmates, but it doesn't provide other data or courtesy calls about inmate statuses that ICE would like to receive.

County Manager Katherine Miller acknowledged Tuesday that the uneasy relationship between the two entities results in the county getting less reimbursement for holding inmates for the additional time than it would get if it had a more amicable relationship with the federal agency.

The proposed ordinance would have required a higher level of cooperation -- including supplying certain data daily and calling ICE agents to notify them when inmates on detainers are going to be released.

Commissioner Daniel Mayfield asked why county staff should be required to notify ICE about the impending releases when ICE officials themselves are the ones who issue the detainer requests. The answer was that ICE doesn't always track court proceedings, so it doesn't always know if or when an inmate is going to be allowed to be released.

"They want us to call them and let them know," Miller said. "This is the issue, whether that is their responsibility or we make it ours. If this ordinance goes as stated, we would be taking on that responsibility. But we have no legal reason or mandate to take on that responsibility."

Commissioner Virginia Vigil stated that she felt creating a law that overlaps with federal law could open the county up to a legal challenge. She also said she felt it was counterproductive for the county to create a law that would target its own employees.

"To create an ordinance that creates criminals out of our own detention officers is inappropriate to me," Vigil said.

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com.