A sign advertises the Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia on Wednesday. The Legislature is poised to pass the “Immigrant Safety Act” in the upcoming session. Patrick Lohmann/Source NM
Existing immigrant jails may be able to continue operating even if bill passes
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will include legislation banning immigrant detention on the agenda for the legislative session starting Jan. 20, her office told Source NM on Wednesday. The Senate majority leader said the bill has growing support and strong prospects for passage.
But even if the Legislature passes and the governor enacts the legislation, two of the state’s three immigrant detention facilities run by a private prison contractor could potentially still be able to operate here.
The proposed “Immigrant Safety Act” would prohibit public entities from working with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency or other federal agencies to house immigrant detainees in the state. Three rural New Mexico counties – Cibola, Torrance and Otero – have agreements with ICE and private prison companies that enable ICE to house a growing number of detainees in local jails.
If the Legislature passes the bill, counties will be prohibited from joining those contracts, known as “intergovernmental service agreements.” But nothing would stop CoreCivic, a private company that owns the jails in Cibola and Torrance counties, from contracting directly with ICE to continue housing detainees at its facilities, local officials and immigrant legal advocates tell Source.
That’s what Torrance County Commission Chair Ryan Schwebach presumes would happen, he told Source on Wednesday during a break in the commission’s regular meeting in Estancia.
Schwebach said he strenuously opposes the measure and said it puts the Torrance County facility on the “chopping block” should ICE decide to house detainees elsewhere.
Brian Todd, a spokesperson for CoreCivic, declined to answer Source’s question about whether the company would contract directly with ICE if the “Immigrant Safety Act” becomes law, instead referring comment to ICE, which did not respond to Source’s request for comment.
Ian Philabaum, a program director for Innovation Law Lab, an Oregon-based immigrant legal organization that does weekly jail visits in Estancia, said Wednesday that CoreCivic contracting directly with ICE is a “plausible” next step for the company, if one that his organization would oppose.
“It is well documented that ICE detention is harmful in all locations, and we believe that ICE detention should be ended in its entirety in the state of New Mexico,” he said.
According to recent estimates, the Estancia facility currently houses an average daily inmate population of 480 detainees, some of whom have continuously reported poor conditions at the jail, including inadequate access to lawyers, mail, tablets or water.
The current average population at the Cibola County Detention Facility in Milan is about 217 and is about 850 at the Otero Processing Center in Chaparral.
Unlike the Cibola and Torrance facilities, the Otero Processing Center is county-owned, and would be subject to the “Immigrant Safety Act.”
Supporters of the bill say it removes New Mexico’s complicity in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push. ICE arrested at least 1,800 immigrants in New Mexico last year, according to recent estimates.
Local officials, on the other hand, have said the bill would devastate their towns by eliminating tax revenue and jobs the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency provides to house inmates.
Philabaum, however, countered that “to suggest that this bill is going to remove these prisons and is actively aiming to harm these local economies, is disingenuous.”
Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) told Source on Tuesday he believes that a “breakthrough” in his caucus occurred during interim committee meetings this summer, one that means both chambers of the Legislature will approve the bill, he said. He expects they’ll do so within the first two weeks of the session.
“We have the votes in our caucus to send this up to the governor,” he said. “The agreement certainly is to move forward on an expedited basis, and I’m confident we’ll get this across the line.”
As for the facilities that might be exempt from the bill, Wirth said “those legal issues – understanding the impact on existing contracts, and the lay of the land moving forward with private contracts – are things we’ll discuss. I think the real big signal, though, this would send is that the state of New Mexico no longer should be part of this, and local government should not be part of this, immigration-focused detention.”
A comparable bill introduced last year died without a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sponsors in the state House of the “Immigrant Safety Act” told Source on Tuesday that they will reintroduce a version soon with minor changes. Rep. Angelica Rubio (D-Las Cruces) describes the measure as a first step.
The bill doesn’t “end private detention overnight, but it ends New Mexico’s public role in it and forces any ICE/private prison operations to happen without county help, contracts or public resources,” Rubio said in a text message. “I can speak for my House colleagues I’m working with … that we’re committed to making sure this isn’t the only step we take.”
Copy article link