Editor’s note: This is a series profiling our local state legislators, their priorities and issues impacting our Sandoval County throughout the 60-day Legislative Session.
In November, Cindy Nava made history when she was elected to the New Mexico state legislature. She became the first former undocumented person and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, (DACA) recipient to be elected to a public office in America.
Nava, a Democrat, now represents District 9, which includes Corrales, Placitas, Bernalillo and parts of Rio Rancho and Albuquerque, in the state Senate.
With three weeks of the 2025 legislative session over, Nava said she has been working in Santa Fe “on delivering fair, balanced solutions to keep our communities safe, lowering the everyday costs of living by addressing price gouging and the rising cost of prescription drugs and providing the best public education possible for our children.”
Nava serves on both the Health and Public Affairs Committee and the Senate Education Committee this session. The freshman senator and the first former DACA recipient to win a legislative seat co-sponsored Senate Bill 250, which prohibits state resources from being used to enforce federal immigration laws.
“Many people have contacted me about concerns for our immigrant community,” Nava said. “Our families in New Mexico should not live in fear of going to work or sending their children to school.”
Nava immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico as a child. She was a Dreamer, a recipient of the DACA program — an Obama-era policy that protects undocumented individuals who arrived in the country as children from deportation — which took effect in 2012. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen on February 6, 2021.
After graduating from the University of New Mexico, Nava served as a senior policy advisor in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Biden administration from 2022 to 2024. Her campaign website notes Nava is the first former DACA recipient appointed by the White House.
While immigration is a personal issue for Nava, she emphasized that her top priority is improving New Mexico schools.
“Education is my top priority because it created a pathway for opportunity and hope for me. Every child in New Mexico ought to be able to have the best early childhood programs, the best K-12 programs and the best vocational, community college and university education in the nation,” Nava said. “That means paying educators what they are worth, creating top-notch facilities for learning and creating new ways for parents to be involved in their child’s education. As a member of the Senate Education Committee, I’ll be in a good position to help guide education policy for New Mexico.”
Nava also aims to address crime by imposing harsher sentences for recidivists and ending catch-and-release for repeat and violent offenders.
“We must also address some of the biggest root causes of crime, starting with drug addiction and mental health,” Nava said. “Finally, we must ensure police departments have the staffing, tools and resources they need to fight crime.”
Since the session opened Jan. 21, Nava has co-sponsored SB294, which will increase the child tax credit, and SB172, which seeks to create a primary care physician readiness pathway and grants for medical doctors who have completed a post-graduate training program in a country outside of America.
Nava also said she would co-sponsor “a groundbreaking piece of public safety legislation” to increase the number of police officers in New Mexico.
“This immediately opens the field to many candidates to serve, simply by opening up the job to legal permanent residents and DACA recipients who must pass the same scrutiny and vetting standards as current police officers,” Nava said. “More police on the streets will keep our communities and first responders safer.”
Nava stressed that she is listening closely to her constituents as she works during the session.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to residents in my district and thinking through how to best address the issues we face,” Nava said. “Constituents have shared concerns, recommendations and constant feedback on legislation coming before by committees. They have expressed their concerns over the current changes being implemented nationally, along with the unfortunate utilization of profiling taking place by ICE on Tribal land.”
Nava said her door is always open. She will update constituents via email and social media and hopes to create “a bit of feedback loop.”
Nava can be contacted via email (cindy.nava@nmlegis.gov) or in Office 416-E in the Roundhouse.