ACLU of New Mexico sues ICE over detention contract documents

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico on Friday announced it had filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency over outstanding public records request related to detention contracts in the state.

In a news release, ACLU-NM said it filed the suit in federal court on behalf of the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, which has outstanding Freedom of Information Act requests with the agency for records of ICE’s contracting agreements with CoreCivic, which runs the Torrance County Detention Facility and Cibola County Correctional Center.

State lawmakers passed and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham earlier this year signed into law the Immigrant Safety Act, House Bill 9, which prohibits local governments across the state from signing detention contracts with ICE.

The U.S. Justice Department sued the state over the law in May. That case remains pending, according to the most recent court docket update.

“We’re concerned that ICE just replaced one underhanded contract with another,” Emma O’Sullivan, staff attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico, said in a statement. “The state made it clear with the passage of the Immigrant Safety Act that New Mexico stands against the mistreatment and abuse of people in these detention facilities. ICE cannot continue to operate here without accountability.”

In March, the ACLU noted, ICE announced non-competitive “sole source” direct contracts with CoreCivic in both Torrance and Cibola counties to continue detaining immigrants there. “ICE sidestepped important federal contracting requirements that generally require competitive bidding and a review of contractors’ safety records,” the ACLU news release said, noting little information is available about the contracts.

In response to a request for comment from Source NM, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said, ““DHS is reviewing the lawsuit and will respond as appropriate.”

“Our communities spoke up and passed the Immigrant Safety Act to say that we refuse to be complicit in locking up immigrants, yet ICE is doing everything in its power to retain and expand Trump’s cruel detention and deportation machine in our state,” Jessica I. Martínez, director of policy and coalition building at NMILC, said in a statement. “We’re requesting these documents because New Mexicans deserve to know why ICE and the Trump administration are attempting to evade our laws while they continue to subject people to inhumane detention.”

The ACLU news release also noted ongoing concerns about health and safety at the detention facilities in the state.