By Andrea Vasquez
A proposed bill, HB9, is currently facing opposition due to concerns about its negative impacts on local communities, especially the Town of Estancia and elsewhere in Torrance County.
The Immigrant Safety Act aims to prevent state and local governments from participating in detention agreements with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The bill also wants to ensure that only the state can enter into these types of contracts, all to close private prisons due to alleged documented human rights violations.
The Torrance County Detention Center, located in Estancia, is a privately operated facility that is mostly used by federal immigration authorities to house asylum seekers awaiting legal proceedings.
According to Mayor Nathan Dial, the town of Estancia receives two-thirds of its Gross Receipts Taxes (GRTs) from a federal contract related to the town’s private prison. Dial said losing this contract would make the town inoperable, potentially causing hiring freezes and layoffs.
“If the state does not continue this contract, the town could lose a significant portion of its revenue,” Dial said.
The bill would also affect the town financially and require additional resources from law enforcement. Dial fears that if HB9 passes, the town of Estancia will be unable to recover, making it inoperable.
Torrance County may also be affected by the detention process being compromised.
Local detainees will need to be transported to Santa Fe, which will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and require extensive law enforcement man-hours.
“I just would like for the legislatures to take into consideration the direct effect it has on the local communities,” said Dial, stating he understands the legislature’s concerns about private prisons. “This bill will be detrimental to Torrance County.”
He also added that the community may not recover if the prison closes.
This comes at the same time as over 115 detained immigrants were transferred from Boston to Torrance County on Feb. 2, according to several advocates, attorneys, and detained immigrants at the New Mexico facility.
Rebecca Sheff, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico, believes that New Mexico should prohibit local and state government agreements with ICE for civil immigration detention.
“As the Trump administration pursues aggressive deportation policies, New Mexico faces the prospect of thousands more people apprehended inside the U.S. being transferred into our state’s detention centers,” said Sheff.
She mentions New Mexico’s three immigration detention centers that have alleged clear human rights violations, which include poor medical care, over-the-top use of solitary confinement and three confirmed deaths inside the facilities since 2022.
House Bill 9, the Immigrant Safety Act, could have New Mexico join seven other states that have passed similar laws recognizing “that no detention is safe.”
“New Mexico can join them in refusing to facilitate a system that treats our immigrant neighbors—who are integral parts of our communities as family members, friends, and coworkers—with such profound disregard for their basic dignity and safety,” Sheff said.
The prison floodlights brighten the night sky too much It is unbelievable !! for 50 miles around where you cannot see the stars anymore on moonless nights.
We can invite renewable energy developers to come over to install solar farms . We have plenty of room here in our big county, Torrance.. They can replace the lost tax revenues many times over
We buiilt the fuel depot in Moriarty for what reasons?
Rather than fighting over closing the prison facility, get levelheaded top prison officials, local levelheaded Torrance County officials and citizens, the involvement of the local state representative and the congresswoman to hammer out resolutions to end immigration violations real and perceived. The mayor is right. Estancia as a rural community will close down. Do people as a whole really want that? Estancia is unique in many ways in its cultural and history. Core Civic must open and look at their existence in with the surrounding communities as a participant. This can be resolved.
Raul Cervantez