{"id":28644,"date":"2024-03-18T17:09:57","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T17:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-college-researchers-document-abuses-at-n-m-immigration-detention-centers\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T06:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:36:07","slug":"colorado-college-researchers-document-abuses-at-n-m-immigration-detention-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-college-researchers-document-abuses-at-n-m-immigration-detention-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado College researchers document abuses at N.M. immigration detention centers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Travelers
Travelers cross the Paso del Norte bridge just prior to the expiration of Title 42 in May 2023. Corrie Boudreaux\/Source NM<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A new report documenting ongoing abuses at two federal immigration detention facilities in New Mexico concludes the facilities should close, and everyone inside should be released.<\/p>\n

Three undergraduate researchers from Colorado College published the report on March 13, detailing how two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in Milan and Estancia \u2013 and immigration detention in general \u2013 put migrants\u2019 safety, wellbeing and rights at risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cICE has long evaded accountability for such abhorrent violations of national detention standards \u2013 an outcome facilitated by flawed oversight mechanisms that consistently fail to address inhumane conditions in facilities,\u201d the report states. \u201cThe migrants whose stories are shared in this report came to the U.S. in search of asylum and a better life but were met with a system that criminalizes and dehumanizes them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based out of Albuquerque as part of Colorado College\u2019s Activism Institute, the students spent six weeks in November and December conducting extensive interviews with 20 asylum seekers detained in civil immigration custody in the facilities. They did so in partnership with the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center.<\/p>\n

Under contracts with ICE, the Cibola County Correctional Center and the Torrance County Detention Facility must follow guidelines set under the 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards.<\/p>\n

Researchers found several examples of the facilities and their staff violating the detention standards.<\/p>\n

The study reports violations such as excessive use of force by guards, inappropriate sexual assault prevention and response, inadequate medical care, insufficient access to legal information, poor and unsanitary food service, unsatisfactory provision of personal hygiene items and limited recreation availability for people detained.<\/p>\n

Diana Buda, Daisy Gomez Rivera, and Natalia Ocampo are the researchers from Colorado College. They presented their findings in a virtual webinar on March 11.<\/p>\n

Gomez Rivera said they found \u201cclear and obvious violations\u201d of the detention standards, and the standards themselves are not doing enough to protect people in ICE custody.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a deep injustice to continue to subject people to cruel imprisonment,\u201d she said. \u201cThe time is now to shut down Cibola County Correctional Center and Torrance County Detention Facility in New Mexico and release all individuals held at these facilities. By ending the detention of human beings, we can begin to address the undignified treatment of migrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

The entire 96-page report can be read at https:\/\/www.nmilc.org\/our-blog\/what-theyre-doing-to-me-is-an-injustice.<\/a><\/p>\n

Venezuelan held at Torrance describes abuses<\/div>\n

In the report, Jesus Rosales Gonzales, a 25-year-old agricultural engineering student from Venezuela who is incarcerated in Torrance, said he was brought there \u201clike many others by being tricked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had told us that they were going to allow us to fight for asylum outside of detention,\u201d Rosales Gonzales says in his sworn statement based on his interview for the study conducted in Spanish. \u201cNext thing I know they are putting us on buses and handcuffing us.\u201d<\/p>\n

To win asylum after someone crosses the U.S.-Mexico border, they must first show they have a \u201ccredible fear of persecution or torture\u201d if they were to return to their home country.<\/p>\n

Rosales Gonzales said he had no privacy during his credible fear interview and the translator didn\u2019t translate everything he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who leave the center with positive credible fear interview results are told by the officers that they will die in this country, that they won\u2019t survive, and that no one wants them here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said four rooms in his unit are \u201cinundated with dirty water.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have told the officers but they have not done anything about it,\u201d Rosales Gonzales said.<\/p>\n

He said staff give incarcerated migrants tiny pieces of soap and low-quality shampoo twice per week, very small toothbrushes and not enough toothpaste to brush their teeth well.<\/p>\n

The bed sheets and clothes are too thin and do not protect incarcerated migrants from the cold, he said.<\/p>\n

Rosales Gonzales said staff give them very little food of poor quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the food they give us looks very grotesque, almost like it is animal food,\u201d he said. \u201cWe tell the officers that the portions are too small and they tell us that the chef decides the portions and that we can survive off of that. I don\u2019t believe them because we feel weaker every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the guards have physically, psychologically and verbally abused all the migrants at Torrance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fled my country because I was scared they were going to kill me or that I would be incarcerated, but look at me here,\u201d Rosales Gonzales said.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers respond<\/div>\n

The report has attracted responses from state and federal lawmakers representing New Mexico.<\/p>\n

At the webinar, Claire Dudley Chavez, policy director for New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martinez, said he \u201cremains wholeheartedly 100% committed to getting the Dignity Not Detention bill across the finish line next session.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposal, which would have amended state law to bar local governments from entering or renewing contracts with ICE to detain people for civil violations of federal immigration law, has died twice in the New Mexico Legislature in as many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a bit of a heartbreaker this session, but we will not give up, and this work will be really important and significant as we continue to push for the full passage of that bill,\u201d Dudley Chavez said.<\/p>\n

In response to the report, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said, \u201cFor years now, I\u2019ve been urging ICE to take immediate action to remedy unsafe, inhumane conditions at Torrance County Detention Facility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cICE\u2019s continued failure to meet basic standards for humanitarian conditions is deeply concerning, and it\u2019s why I\u2019ve repeatedly called on them to terminate their contract with the detention facility,\u201d Heinrich said. \u201cI won\u2019t stop fighting until this finally happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also in response to the report, U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-N.M.) said, \u201cTorrance County Detention Facility has repeatedly failed inspections, and the Department of Homeland Security OIG reports are alarming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone in the care of the United States should be treated with the utmost respect,\u201d Luj\u00e1n said. \u201cI have written letters and continually pushed the Department of Homeland Security to do better in regards to Torrance, and have called to end their contract with this facility. Now is the time to make real and lasting change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source NM<\/a> is an independent, nonprofit news organization that shines a light on governments, policies and public officials.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

in Cibola and Torrance share stories about \u2018clear and obvious\u2019 violations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-28644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80484,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28644\/revisions\/80484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28644"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=28644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}