Momentum builds in New Mexico legislature to ban ICE facilities statewide – New Mexico Political Report

New Mexico legislators began hearings today on legislation to prohibit local governments from contracting with prison companies and the federal government to create immigration detention facilities. 

Members of the House Judiciary Committee kicked off a hearing on the bill Wed. afternoon as local elected officials from Cibola and Torrance County, where two of the state’s privately-operated prisons hold federal detainees and are among the largest local employers, waited in the hallways to testify and speak to legislators.

Language in House Bill 9, sponsored by State Reps. Eleanor Chávez (D-Albuquerque), Angelica Rubio, Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe), Marianna Anaya (D-Albuquerque) and State Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), would technically bar local governments from participating in the federal immigration system.  It also requires the termination of any existing agreement “as soon as possible” and prohibits governments with those contracts from simply transferring those facilities to the federal government. 

Dozens of self-described immigrants and advocates rallied at the Roundhouse last week to lobby legislators in support of HB9. 

“ICE has become more violent and less accountable,” bill sponsor Rep. Chavez told legislators during introductory remarks to the committee. “The Immigrant Safety Act is a straightforward bill. It gets New Mexico out of the business of immigration detention. It shows we are no longer willing to be complicit in ISIS sweetheart deals with its favorite detention contractors who are only focused on their bottom line and making profits.”  Supporters from advocacy groups spoke in English and Spanish, both official languages in New Mexico, during opening remarks.

In Cibola County, home to the Cibola County Correctional Facility, a private prison operated by CoreCivic under contract to house federal inmates, officials told legislators that the legislation would result in the loss of approximately 180 jobs, a $16 million annual payroll reduction, and a projected $20.4 million contraction in county-level economic activity, according to comments provided to the LFC.

Governor Lujan Grisham publicly flirted with the idea of banning federal immigration detention facilities during a special legislative session this summer, but ultimately backed away and promised to revisit the issue during this Jan. session. 

If the bill passes committee, it could return to the full House for a vote before heading to the Senate where its sole Senate sponsor, Sen. Joseph Cervantes, is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee where it would likely be assigned.

Related