The New Mexico Department of Justice has notified Torrance County officials that actions taken at a December special meeting may be invalid due to alleged violations of the state’s Open Meetings Act.
In a Jan. 9 letter to Commission Chair Ryan Schwebach, the department’s Government Counsel and Accountability Bureau raised concerns about the county’s compliance with open meetings requirements, focusing on deficiencies in the county’s annual resolution, inadequate public notice and an attempted retroactive extension of an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The letter stated that notice for the Dec. 30, 2025, special meeting appeared to have been posted only one day before the meeting, falling short of the 72-hour advance notice required by state law. Without proper notice, any votes or actions taken during that meeting were not valid and must be redone, the department said.
The department also challenged the county’s Dec. 30 vote to extend its intergovernmental services agreement with ICE, which operates a detention facility in the county. The original agreement expired Oct. 31, and the county’s attempt to retroactively extend it through March 31, 2026, was likely improper.
State law requires public bodies to determine annually what constitutes “reasonable notice” for meetings and to post notices and agendas on their websites at least 72 hours in advance, except in emergencies. The department found that Torrance County’s 2025 resolution relied on notice to newspapers and broadcast media, but did not explicitly require posting on websites.
The Torrance County Detention Facility, operated by CoreCivic under contract with ICE, has faced criticism from advocacy groups over alleged abuse and conditions. Protesters have called for the closure of the facility.
The department requested a written response from the county by Jan. 16, including details of what was discussed at the December meeting, explanations for the notice failures and justification for the retroactive approval of the ICE agreement.
According to Source NM, Schwebach said that the county did not violate the Open Meetings Act and the county attorney was working on a letter in response to the NMDOJ.
“There is not a potential violation of the Open Meetings Act,” Schwebach told Source NM. “We do not violate the Open Meetings Act.”