by Patrick Lohmann for Source NM
In a unanimous decision Thursday, the state Supreme Court denied a New Mexico Department of Justice request to intervene and stop Otero County from contracting with federal immigration authorities to hold immigrant detainees at its facility in Chaparral.
The NMDOJ on April 1 urged the Supreme Court to grant a writ of mandamus that would have prohibited Otero County from executing an agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and private company MTC to hold roughly 900 immigrant detainees at the Otero County Processing Center.
In his petition to the court, Attorney General Raúl Torrez argued that New Mexico municipalities, including Otero County, lack the legal authority under state law to hold federal immigrant detainees who have not been charged or convicted of crimes.
Torrez also reiterated his agency’s contention that the Otero County contract is void because the county did not receive approval from the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, which Torrez said state law requires for agreements between multiple local, state or federal government agencies.
The court’s intervention was needed, Torrez said, to “prevent the execution of an invalid agreement.”
The Supreme Court’s one-page decision Thursday does not explain why the court ruled against the NMDOJ.
Torrez, in an emailed statement to Source NM on Friday, said he “respects the court’s decision.”
“We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure compliance with the new law that becomes effective in just a few weeks,” he said. “The Legislature has made its intention clear that these kinds of contracts should be eliminated and that they do not benefit the people of New Mexico.”
Otero County’s jail is one of three detention facilities statewide that house ICE detainees. Earlier this year, the Legislature passed House Bill 9, the Immigrant Safety Act, which prohibits counties from entering agreements with ICE to hold immigrant detainees.
But Otero County has continued to extend its contract despite the state law, most recently on March 25. The NMDOJ has stepped in twice in recent months, including saying the Otero County Commission violated a state transparency law, in efforts to nullify the contract.
Unlike the two other ICE detention facilities in New Mexico that are privately-owned, Otero County owns the facility that is now subject to House Bill 9. As a result, county officials have said exiting the county’s ICE agreement would cost hundreds of jobs and prevent the county from paying off bondholders who financed the facility’s $68 million construction in 2007.
In a statement to social media on Thursday afternoon, Otero County Commission Chair Vickie Marquardt applauded the court’s decision.
“The Supreme Court did exactly what courts are supposed to do — apply the law as written, without regard to political pressure,” she said. “Otero County is grateful for that.”
The county, with the help of outside counsel it hired to stave off litigation regarding its ICE contract, filed nearly 300 pages of exhibits and filings in response to the NMDOJ’s petition. Otero County Attorney R.B. Nichols, in the county’s statement, said the NMDOJ’s petition raised “legal theories that no branch of New Mexico stat government had questioned in 18 years of continuous operations in federal contract.”
Nichols added that the court’s ruling means the county’s contract “remains in full force and effect. Operations at the Otero County Processing Center continue without interruption.”