New Mexico
Bill to end detention of asylum seekers in New Mexico heads to Senate floor – NM Political Report
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill that would prohibit New Mexico counties from holding contracts that allow immigrant detention by a vote of 5-2. SB 145, sponsored by state Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Albuquerque, would prohibit public bodies from entering into intergovernmental service agreements to detain individuals for federal civil immigration violations. The bill […]
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill that would prohibit New Mexico counties from holding contracts that allow immigrant detention by a vote of 5-2.
SB 145, sponsored by state Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Albuquerque, would prohibit public bodies from entering into intergovernmental service agreements to detain individuals for federal civil immigration violations. The bill would also require the public bodies already engaged in such a contract to terminate it within the 60 or 120-day contract provision.
Three New Mexico counties, Otero, Cibola and Torrance, hold such agreements with for-profit detention centers. Sedillo Lopez spoke of what she called “harsh and inhumane” conditions at the three facilities.
Sophia Genovese, senior attorney for New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, said the economic impacts of the bill have been overstated by county officials who speak during public comment. She said that all three facilities also house individuals held by the U.S. Marshals Service and county officials and that the number of immigration detainees is smaller than the other populations. She said the bill would not force the closure of the three facilities; it would end their ability to hold individuals in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, said he is concerned about the “deplorable” conditions the individuals, who are seeking asylum, reportedly experience and said he worried that if this bill is enacted and it prohibits ICE from housing individuals in its custody in New Mexico, that the asylum seekers will be housed in facilities in Texas where they might be treated worse due to the anti-immigrant political rhetoric by state officials.
Genovese said that she has worked in facilities housing asylum seekers across the country and that New Mexico has “some of the worst facilities I’ve ever seen.” She said New Mexico is nationally recognized for its “horrific conditions.”
“New Mexico is a welcoming state for the most part, but our facilities are anything but that. So a comparison of our facilities being better, that is absolutely not the case,” she said.
The bill heads next to the Senate floor.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Tanya Tucker will perform at the 2026 New Mexico State Fair, officials announced Tuesday.
Tucker will take to the stage Friday, Sept. 18, after the Chevron PRCA rodeo. The Grammy Award-winning icon has racked up 10 No. 1 country hits since her first hit, “Delta Dawn,” at age 13.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring the legendary Tanya Tucker to the New Mexico State Fair,” said Dan Mourning, general manager of the New Mexico State Fair. “Tanya is one of the greatest icons in country music history and is the perfect fit for the Fair.”
Tucker has 23 Top-40 albums and 56 Top 40 singles on the Billboard country music charts. She has won two Country Music Association awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, three CMT Awards and two Grammys for Best Country Album and Best Country Song.
Tickets are set to go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m.
Here is the full 2026 New Mexico State Fair rodeo-concert lineup:
Friday, Sept. 11
Turnpike Troubadours with Chevron PRCA Xtreme Bulls
Saturday, Sept. 12
Ian Munsick with Chevron PRCA Xtreme Bulls
Wednesday, Sept. 16
Chevron PRCA Standalone Rodeo
Thursday, Sept. 17
Everclear with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Friday, Sept. 18
Tanya Tucker with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Saturday, Sept. 19
The Warning with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Sunday, Sept. 20
Chevron PRCA Rodeo – Matinee
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State investigators began searching a secluded ranch in New Mexico on Monday where financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein once entertained guests amid allegations that the property may have been used for sexual abuse and sex trafficking of young women.
The office of state Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced that the search was being done with the cooperation of the current ranch owners.
Torrez last month reopened an investigation of the ranch. New Mexico’s initial case was closed in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York, and state prosecutors say now that “revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination.”
Epstein purchased the sprawling Zorro Ranch in Stanley, New Mexico, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Santa Fe, in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King and built a hilltop mansion with a private runway.
The property was sold by Epstein’s estate in 2023 — with proceeds going toward creditors — to the family of Don Huffines, a candidate in Texas for state comptroller who won the Republican primary last week.
“The New Mexico Department of Justice appreciates the cooperation of the current property owners,” the agency said in a statement. Prosecutors “will continue to keep the public appropriately informed, support the survivors, and follow the facts wherever they lead.”
Additionally, New Mexico state legislators have established a new commission to look into past activities at the ranch.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.
Epstein never faced charges in New Mexico, but the state attorney general’s office in 2019 confirmed that it had interviewed possible victims who visited Epstein’s ranch.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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