Torrance County to vote on extending ICE prison contract

Torrance County’s elected officials will meet Wednesday to vote on whether to extend a contract allowing the federal government to incarcerate asylum seekers in central New Mexico.

The agenda for tomorrow’s Torrance County Commission meeting includes a request from County Manager Janice Barela to sign an amendment to the contract between the county government and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which governs operations at the Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia.

The contract expires May 14.

Reached for comment on Monday, Barela said ICE is asking for an extension rather than a new contract.

“It’s not our choice on that,” Barela said. “I think they’re needing additional time to prepare the agreement. The goal is to work toward a new agreement.”

The agenda packet posted on the county’s website does not include a copy of the amendment. Barela said she hopes to have a copy available on Wednesday.

As of Monday morning, there were 246 people detained by ICE in Torrance, Barela said.

People at the previous county commission meeting on April 10 read testimony from 12 asylum seekers held inside the Torrance County Detention Facility, or who were previously held there.

The testimonies described unfair asylum proceedings, allegations of abuse by guards, inadequate medical care, unfair wages for labor done inside, bug-infested and rotting food, dirty drinking water, unkempt clothing, and a lack of sunlight and fresh air.

Asylum seekers testify to inhumane conditions at Torrance County Detention Facility

They are the latest accounts of inhumane conditions reported by people detained inside the Torrance detention center. Last year, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) joined others who have called for Torrance to stop incarcerating people for federal immigration violations. This followed a 2022 inspection by the Homeland Security Department’s Office of the Inspector General that called on the facility to close.

People who want to give public comment to the commissioners at the meeting Wednesday can do so in-person or online.

The commission meeting will be held at 9 a.m. at 205 S. Ninth Street in Estancia.

It will be livestreamed over Zoom, and the link can be found here.

Once county commissioners start the meeting, they can rearrange its agenda, so public comment may not necessarily start promptly at 9 a.m.