Santa Fe New Mexican: Sen. Heinrich renews call to close Torrance County ICE jail

New Mexico’s senior U.S. senator has renewed his standing call for the closure of the Torrance County Detention Facility, citing “continuing and systemic failures” to ensure humane conditions at the lockup.
In a Nov. 7 letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons, Sen. Martin Heinrich also cited the Oct. 31 expiration of the operating contract between the federal government and county officials.
“The lapse in contractual authority for the continued detention and care of immigrants at [Torrance County Detention Facility] is extremely concerning,” Heinrich wrote.
“I reiterate my calls for ICE to close the facility, but if you will not, I urge you to transfer all ICE detainees out of TCDF immediately until such time that the contract between ICE and Torrance County is extended,” the Democrat wrote.
Heinrich’s letter demands answers to a number of questions about the contract, including whether ICE intends to renew or extend its agreement with Torrance County or is instead pursuing a direct service contract with private prison company CoreCivic, which owns and operates the jail.
“In the absence of a valid contract, will Torrance County bear financial or legal responsibility for any costs or liabilities incurred during this lapse, including payments to subcontractors or expenses related to the detention and care of individuals at [the facility]?” Heinrich’s letter asks.
The Torrance facility is one of three immigration detention centers in New Mexico and has become a political flashpoint since the Trump administration vastly ramped up deportation efforts earlier this year. Immigrant advocates have long decried reports of inhumane conditions at the facility. Supporters have denied these reports and say the prison is an important economic driver for the rural community.
A bill to ban immigration detention centers in New Mexico stalled in the Legislature this year, although Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office has said she plans to bring the issue back up during the 2026 session.
Torrance County and ICE have been negotiating what is expected to be another extension of the intergovernmental agreement between ICE and the county which had been operating under a series of extensions for the past year, county manager Jordan Barela said last week.
Contract negotiations were ongoing through October until the federal agency notified the county it would not be able to provide an extension “prior to the end of the contract term,” Barela wrote in a recent email.
“I believe that some of these issues are related to the shutdown, either due to staffing issues, or due to unknown budgetary factors that would impact a contract like this moving into the next federal fiscal year,” Barela wrote.
However, according to Heinrich’s letter, ICE “has additional funds at their disposal during this shutdown” and “should be able to maintain even basic communications with their contractual partners.”
Barela did not respond to an email seeking an update on the status of the contract negotiations Thursday.
CoreCivic spokesman Ryan Gustin referred questions about the contract to ICE but stressed the company’s commitment “to care for each person respectfully and humanely while they receive the legal due process that they are entitled to.”
He also noted the detention center has been audited repeatedly by both “our government partners at ICE, as well as independent third parties,” and received an overall ‘superior’ rating in its annual FY25 ICE Office of Detention Oversight audit.
ICE did not respond to an email seeking comment.