U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich is demanding answers from federal immigration officials about the continued operation of a New Mexico detention facility despite the expiration of its contract more than two weeks ago.
The New Mexico Democrat sent a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons last week questioning the legal authority for detaining approximately 550 individuals at the Torrance County Detention Facility after the contract between ICE and Torrance County expired Oct. 31, according to a statement released by Heinrich’s office.
A Torrance County official confirmed Nov. 3 that no new contract had been established, according to a statement from a coalition of advocacy groups including the ACLU of New Mexico, Innovation Law Lab and the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center.
The advocacy groups called on ICE to immediately release detainees, stating the agency is holding people “unlawfully” at the facility.
“The lapse in contractual authority for the continued detention and care of immigrants at TCDF is extremely concerning,” Heinrich wrote in the letter.
Heinrich said ICE’s own internal policies dictate that contracts for detention bed space “automatically expire if a new option period is not exercised or if the contract or agreement is not renewed.” The policies also require that “all noncitizens and ICE equipment must be removed from the facility on or before the expiration of the period of performance,” according to the senator.
According to the ACLU of New Mexico, attorneys for detainees at the facility have confirmed their clients remain at TCDF, which is managed by CoreCivic in Estancia.
According to Heinrich, ICE met with Torrance County officials Oct. 27 about a short-term contract extension, but discussions have stalled due to a lack of communication from the agency. Torrance County Manager Jordan Barela told county commissioners Oct. 29 that ICE’s failure to present an amended contract may be related to the current lapse in government funding, Heinrich said.
The senator criticized ICE’s communication failures, noting the agency furloughed less than 7% of its workforce at the beginning of the government shutdown and has additional funds at its disposal.
“ICE’s public assertion that there is no change to U.S. immigration law or enforcement rings hollow when it is now unclear what the legal justification is for the continued detention of approximately 550 individuals at TCDF,” Heinrich wrote.
The advocacy groups cited longstanding concerns about conditions at the facility, including human rights abuses, infrastructural failures such as sewage flooding, racist mistreatment by guards, medical neglect, lack of drinking water and restricted law library access, according to their statement. The groups said these issues have persisted despite ICE increasing the detention population at the facility in 2025.
A 2022 report by the Office of the Inspector General documented violations at the facility, according to the advocacy groups. They also referenced a whistleblower report released in 2025 by former TCDF staff that detailed abuse and cover-ups by authorities.
Heinrich pointed to what he described as contradictory statements from ICE Acting Assistant Director Sean Hackbarth, who previously told Heinrich that TCDF “is necessary to manage the administrative custody of one of the most highly transient and complex populations of any correctional or detention system in the world.”
Heinrich requested ICE confirm whether it intends to renew the agreement with Torrance County or pursue a direct contract with CoreCivic, and asked under what authority ICE is continuing to detain individuals without an active agreement.
The senator reiterated his call for ICE to close the facility, but urged the agency to at least transfer all detainees out of TCDF immediately until a contract is extended.
Weak stick Heinrich, the roaches at the ACLU and other libtard traitors need to go pound salt. It is time they start standing up for the good law abiding tax paying Citizens of New Mexico and not the illegal invaders.
Name-calling and insults aren’t the building blocks of a solid argument that you think they are.
What is wrong with these leftist lawmakers that do not seem to understand that they wrote the immigration laws and they created the agencies to enforce them. They need to stop acting like temper tantrum throwing children and start supporting our federal law enforcement agents.
Core-Civic is a criminal organization.
Heinrich and all democratics need to leave my country along with all illegals
This is not “your” country.
It is an absolute fact that Core Civic has a horrible reputation, one that includes mismanagement of their facilities, mistreatment of the people living and working in their facilities, failure to abide by safety codes, proper maintenance of their buildings and grounds, and they’ve been known to ignore state and federal laws that apply to them. They’ve been charged with fraud, with falsifying documents, mistreating detainees, and recently sued in response to a “preventable death” at their facility. The company is not transparent and has a history of carelessly operating facilities in the United States, including the one in Torrance County that is currently used as an ICE detention facility. There is a long list of well documented issues that date back many years in Torrance County alone. Core Civic spent over $45 million lobbying for the passing of the “Big, Beautiful Bill” on top of huge campaign donations to Trump. Core Civic and its President donated $750,000 to Trump’s inauguration party fund. Core Civic pays to play. They rely on federal contracts, and they’ve incentivized Trump to increase ICE budgets and increase detainees so that they make more money. One commenter defends their support for the facility by saying that they are “just a good law abiding tax paying Citizen of New Mexico” and not an “illegal invader.” Another says that leftists need to start “supporting our federal law enforcement agents.” Questions: 1) Let me get this straight: you are a good, law-abiding person, and you believe it’s good to support a company that frequently breaks laws, mistreats the people that they are contracted to house, and operates without required contracts in place? It’s important to you that you abide by the law, but you don’t care if businesses operating in your own community are doing so legally? 2) Do you know anyone that is living in the US without proper documentation? Maybe someone you’ve hired to work on your house or yard, or to provide home care for an elderly person, or that was married to a legal resident or US citizen, or that work on a farm or ranch seasonally? What does your own family tree look like? Chances are, like most Americans, you don’t have to climb too many branches to find your ancestors that immigrated here, likely because they were drawn to opportunity offered here or were driven out of another country during hard times. Guess what? The reasons why your family moved to the United States, whenever that was, are the same reasons that drive people here today. In my family, that was only 3 generations ago. And, as a lifetime resident of NM in my 40s, I’ve crossed paths with so many individuals and families that were living here with less than ideal circumstances, as far as documentation goes, and they were still good people — good people that love their kids, their neighbors, their friends — good people that work really hard, some doing hard jobs under the hot sun or in unpleasant conditions — good people who want their kids to go to school and have an easier shot at life. These good people have enriched our community, influenced our culture, traditions, foods, and so on. Not one would I ever have the nerve or audacity to call an “invader” or an “alien,” nor would I think that they are any less worthy of respect or more undeserving of kindness than I am. Unfortunately that is the message that we are telling them when we detain them at facilities like CoreCivic, where low-wage prison guards yell and curse at them, where they are sent to fear family separations, where their access to resources and help is restricted, where there may or may not be air conditioning in the summer or a warm meal in the winter, where there are reports of no running water at times, sewage backups and roof leaks, inhumane conditions, bed bugs, and physical abuse. 3) Donald Trump and ICE are causing a labor crisis across the United States. The people that they are deporting or causing to not work and live in fear are very often the people that work really hard doing jobs that many Americans are unwilling to do. They work on the farms that grow our fruit, to the cattle ranches that supply our beef, to home aids that help feed and bathe our elderly parents and grandparents, to the people that clean countless hotel rooms or do the dishes in the back of a restaurant, to lawnmowers and pruners, roofing workers, painters, carpet layers, and brick pavers, to hairdressers and nail technicians, and the list goes on. Some of these industries, particularly farming and home care and construction, have already been faced with critical shortages of workers, and when there aren’t enough people to do certain jobs, the value of that job goes up very quickly. As labor costs go up, those additional costs get passed onto the final cost of the good or service, the price that we pay as consumers. Can you afford to pay an even higher price for a new house than what it would already cost today? What about for a home health aid if you or your spouse suddenly needed to hire one? And can you still afford to if the cost increases by 25 % or 50%, or what if there just wasn’t anyone available at all? And can you afford to install that new roof you need if the price is 30% higher than it is today? Wake up America.