Monday, Jul 16, 2018 the New Mexico Courts Corrections and Justice (CCJ) committee met to discuss oversight of private immigration detention facilities within the state. Our organization, along with CAFé,sent a delegation to the hearing.
To the CCJ committee members, a large contingency of formerly detained individuals gave powerful testimony regarding their experiences of detention. Many individuals described experiences in ICE detention facilities in New Mexico that are similar to those detailed in government documents () and advocacy reports (). To each member of the CCJ committee, our organization also sent a letter calling for the end of ICE immigration detention and immediate independent oversight. The letter was signed by more than 25 advocacy organizations. The entire four hour hearing can be viewed online. Both local (here and here) as well as national news outlets covered the event.
Joselin Mendez, 28, told New Mexico state legislators about being held in solitary confinement while detained at the Cibola County Correctional Center. She was among many former detainees who asked lawmakers to prevent contract renewals with private prison companies and the federal government at a hearing on July 16, 2018 at the Capitol in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Credit: Sara MacNeil/PRI
USCCR. “With Liberty and Justice for All: The State of Civil Rights at Immigration Detention Facilities.” A Briefing Before the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Statutory Enforcement Report. Washington D. C.: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 2015. http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/Statutory_Enforcement_Report2015.pdf.
Craig, Nathan, and Margaret Brown Vega. “‘Why Doesn’t Anyone Investigate This Place?’: Complaints Made by Migrants Detained at the Otero County Processing Center, Chaparral, NM Compared to Department of Homeland Security Inspections and Reports.” El Paso, TX: Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee (DMSC) and Freedom for Immigrants (FFI), 2018. https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/report-on-otero.