NM AG Torrez sues Torrance and Curry counties, sheriffs over ICE agreements violating new state law

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez on Wednesday filed lawsuits against two local counties and their sheriffs for maintaining agreements enabling the transfer of local immigrant arrestees to federal custody despite a new state law.

According to the lawsuit, sheriffs in Torrance and Curry counties have recently entered agreements with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency — often called “287(g) agreements” after the relevant section in federal immigration law — that authorize local law enforcement to serve ICE warrants on arrestees held in local jails.

House Bill 9, the Immigrant Safety Act, which the Legislature passed earlier this year, prohibited local sheriffs from entering or implementing those agreements. The law also prohibited counties from contracting with ICE for immigrant detention at local facilities. 

In a statement Wednesday, Torrez said neither sheriff has the authority to defy House Bill 9. 

“The Legislature enacted the Immigrant Safety Act after careful deliberation, the Governor signed it, and it is now the law of New Mexico,” Torrez said. “No county sheriff has the authority to nullify a statute simply because he disagrees with it. That is not how our constitutional system works, and this office will not allow it to stand.”

In an email Wednesday to Source NM, Curry County Sheriff Michael Brockett said he “stand[s] behind my decision in cooperating with our federal law enforcement partners.” He said he had no further comment due to the litigation. 

Torrance County Sheriff David Frazee did not respond to Source NM’s phone call seeking comment Wednesday. 

According to an ICE database, Brockett signed the Curry County agreement in May 2025, and Frazee signed the Torrance County agreement in December 2025. Both agreements are still in effect a week after House Bill 9 went into effect. 

Torrez’s office filed the lawsuits in two state court judicial districts overseeing both counties, whose commissions also are named as defendants. 

NM lawmakers add ban on law enforcement agreements with ICE to Immigrant Safety Act

According to recent data from the Deportation Data Project, three New Mexico ICE arrests occurred through the use of 287(g) agreements. The data shows the arrests occurred between August and October of last year and involved detainees who had not been convicted of a crime. 

The data as of mid-December, which researchers obtain periodically via public records requests to ICE, notes that two of the detainees remained in ICE custody at that time. A third voluntarily left the country to Mexico.

Brockett, in a previous statement to Source NM, said maintaining agreements with federal law enforcement was important for public safety. 

“As conservators of the peace, we must maintain these strong relationships, as keeping our communities safe is a team effort,” he said in a statement last June.