New Mexico
Senate committee advances bill to end migrant detention contracts in New Mexico
There are three migrant detention centers in New Mexico – all tucked away in more rural parts of the state – and they are all facing numerous allegations of inhumane treatment and deplorable living conditions.
Immigrant rights advocates have been sounding the alarm for years and it’s clear some state lawmakers have had enough.
SANTA FE, N.M. — There are three migrant detention centers in New Mexico – all tucked away in more rural parts of the state – and they are all facing numerous allegations of inhumane treatment and deplorable living conditions. Immigrant rights advocates have been sounding the alarm for years and it’s clear some state lawmakers have had enough.
The Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would block local governments from entering new migrant detention contracts with federal immigration authorities and force them to terminate existing ones.
“This bill wants to remove New Mexico from being complicit in the caging and torturing of migrants,” said Sophia Genovese, managing attorney with the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center.
Advocates have chronicled the troubling allegations at privately owned facilities in Torrance and Cibola counties for years.
“There’s inadequate food, increasingly, men and women do not have access to clean drinking water,” Genovese said. “On top of not having access to medical care. or people who speak rare languages or people who have disabilities, they don’t have accommodations that are constitutionally required.”
Attorneys say months of inhumane treatment even pushed a 23-year-old Brazilian detainee to take his own life back in 2022.
“You need to remember that these detention centers are detaining people who are coming here seeking asylum, they have not violated any law, there’s no, there’s no issue, but they come to our country seeking refuge,” said state Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez. “And they’re treated like criminals.”
While this proposal would not force the facilities or any private prison to completely shut down, officials from multiple counties told lawmakers that restricting migrant detention operations could impact jobs.
“I’m concerned that we’re going to impact citizens of these communities, and yet, we’re not enhancing the conditions of the detainees when they get moved elsewhere,” said state Sen. Greg Nibert.
Several members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation have raised concerns about the facilities before.
Congressman Gabe Vasquez visited the Cibola County facility just last week, and on Wednesday, called for increased federal oversight.
“We are a nation of immigrants and we shouldn’t be treating people in the way that we do,” Vasquez said.
The Senate bill cleared its first committee along a party-line vote, but it’s expected to face more scrutiny in the notoriously tough Senate Judiciary Committee.
Native Vote 2026
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Laguna Pueblo woman is the front runner to be New Mexico’s next governor.
Shortly after polls closed Tuesday night, Deb Haaland was declared the winner over Bernalillo County district attorney Sam Bregman in the state’s semi-open Democratic Party primary. As of 11:00 p.m., Haaland carried support from 72% of the Democratic primary voters to Bregman’s 28%, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State.
“We’re showing everyone that a better future in New Mexico is possible,” she told supporters gathered in Albuquerque’s historic Old Town Plaza. “New Mexicans want a leader who will stand up for working people, and who is ready to take on Donald Trump. I proudly accept your nomination as a Democratic nominee.”
Haaland spoke for 13 minutes, at times through a scratchy throat that required her to pause for water breaks. “Excuse me, I’ve been talking with voters all day,” she said while grabbing a water bottle before hitting her campaign stump notes on affordability, health care and public safety.
She will face Republican Gregg Hull, a former mayor from suburban Rio Rancho that won his party’s three-way primary with 47% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State.
Haaland will be the Democratic Party nominee in a state dominated at every level by Democrats, and is expected to be heavily favored in the general election. With that insight she said her campaign message does translate to Republicans and Independent voters.
“We want our kids to thrive. We want our kids to have a quality, public education. We want every New Mexican to have health care. Everybody wants to feel safe in their neighborhoods, and everybody wants to be able to afford to put a hot meal on their table every night and have a roof over their children’s heads,” she said. “Those issues transcend whatever political spectrum we’re trying to slice and dice people into.”
Shortly after the race was called, Haaland campaign staff, major donors, surrogates, and their families walked from a building on the west side of Albuquerque’s Old Town Plaza to the historic plaza core, where the Haaland campaign had set up a stage and reserved the entire plaza for its victory celebration.
“We are now witnessing history in the making,” New Mexico state Rep. Derrick Lente (Sandia Pueblo) said to supporters immediately after Haaland was declared the winner.
Denise Wilie (Dine) also joined the celebration of Haaland’s victory. Wilie said she worked on get-out-the-vote efforts with the Native American Voters Alliance in McKinley County.
“It just is so exhilarating to even think about, a woman and a Pueblo woman,” she said. “Indigenous all the way, is how I feel. I’m like, yes, let’s get more of our voices.”
Haaland was introduced by her two sisters and walked to the stage escorted by a mariachi band.
Speaking to reporters after the event Haaland reflected on voting for a Pueblo woman (herself) for governor.
“I got emotional, quite frankly, when I went to vote for myself because you do that when you’re a candidate,” she said. “We’ve never had a Native American governor in New Mexico. We’re a multicultural state. I think representation matters, especially in a political era such as this one. So, I’m really proud and honored to carry on the legacy of my ancestors, who worked so incredibly hard to make sure that I had a place here today.”
Related
When a famly unexpectedly loses a loved one, or has someone go missing, the details of what comes next can be overwhelming.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – When a famly unexpectedly loses a loved one, or has someone go missing, the details of what comes next can be overwhelming.
But they don’t have to do it alone thanks to an organization helping New Mexico families with some of those burdens.
Watch the video above for more.
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