New Mexico’s largest immigration detention facility is over capacity and holding hundreds of people without criminal records, according to U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez.
Vasquez found the Otero County Processing Center “bursting at the seams” with over 1,100 detainees in a facility designed for 1,089 people, with more than 80% having no criminal charges or convictions, according to a press release from his office following his July 30 oversight visit.
The detention facility in Chaparral, operated by private prison company Management & Training Corporation for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, houses the majority of ICE detainees in New Mexico and has become a focal point for congressional oversight efforts.
“I am all for measures that keep our borders and communities secure, but after my visit to the Otero Processing Center, it is only more clear that ICE is not making our communities safer,” Vasquez said in a press release. “Today, we learned that over 80% of the individuals detained in this facility have no criminal charges or convictions — meaning the administration is not just targeting violent individuals, it’s filling detention centers with workers, parents and our community members.”
Vasquez’s findings align with national ICE detention trends, where 71.7% of the record 59,000 detainees nationwide have no criminal convictions, according to federal data obtained by CBS News in June. The Otero facility’s rate of over 80% non-criminal detainees exceeds the national average.
Despite his legal right to congressional oversight and submitting required privacy forms in advance, Vasquez was not permitted to speak with detained individuals during his visit. Facility staff told him this was due to “changing policies,” according to his press release.
The restriction comes as ICE has implemented new guidelines requesting members of Congress provide 72 hours’ notice before detention facility visits, though federal law explicitly grants lawmakers the right to make unannounced oversight visits under Section 527 of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act.
Democratic lawmakers filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the Trump administration’s new policy limiting congressional access to immigration detention facilities.
During his tour, Vasquez encountered ICE representatives who were “unwilling and unable to give him clear and straightforward answers to questions regarding their treatment of their detainees,” according to his press release.
The congressman also documented infrastructure failures, including phones that detained individuals rely on to contact legal counsel and family members that were broken, and toilets that would not flush. He noted accounts of the facility’s history of understaffed medical teams.
The Otero County facility has a documented history of medical neglect, deaths in custody and civil rights violations. The ACLU has filed multiple lawsuits regarding conditions at the facility, which has seen several deaths in custody in recent years.
All three ICE detention facilities in New Mexico are experiencing record-high detainee populations, according to Source NM. The Torrance County Detention Center holds an average of 435 ICE detainees, and the Cibola County Correctional Center holds 227, both increases of more than 25% from last year.
The facilities operate under county contracts with ICE but are managed by private prison companies. CoreCivic runs the Torrance and Cibola facilities, while Management & Training Corporation operates the Otero facility.
ICE operations in New Mexico have intensified this year, with 48 residents arrested in March during operations in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Roswell. According to ICE’s own announcement, most had no criminal record.
Vasquez continues to champion his Humane Accountability Act, which would increase transparency around ICE detention and strengthen reporting standards for how individuals are treated in federal detention facilities.
The updated legislation, reintroduced in May as the “Humane Accountability Act 2.0,” would require the Department of Homeland Security to report to Congress all immigration detentions, removals, and encounters, including any transfers to non-traditional sites like the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador.
“Due process, transparency and accountability are not optional in a democracy,” Vasquez said in a press release about the legislation.
The bill would also mandate regular reporting on detention center conditions, including incidents of abuse, hospitalization, death, and complaints related to legal access or retaliation.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is considering legislation to ban federal immigration detention centers in New Mexico during a special session expected in late August or September, though some lawmakers worry this would simply move detainees to facilities with worse conditions in other states.