CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – The federal government has reached a direct contract with private prison operator CoreCivic to continue housing immigration detainees at detention facilities in Cibola and Torrance counties, a move that preserves detention operations but changes what local government involvement will look like under New Mexico’s new Immigrant Safety Act (HB 9).
The contract between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CoreCivic went into effect May 1, according to an ICE spokesperson.
The timing of the contract was important because HB 9 – passed earlier this year in the New Mexico Legislature and signed into law as – goes into effect May 20 and bans state and local “public bodies” like county governments from entering into or renewing agreements used to detain people for federal civil immigration violations.
County governments previously served as intermediaries in detention contracting arrangements involving ICE and Core-Civic in Cibola and Torrance counties.
HB 9 was designed to end that intermediary position by prohibiting local government participation in those agreements. The new federal contract removes county governments from the middle, allowing ICE to continue immigration detention operations through a direct relationship with the private operator all while the counties lose all oversight they previously held.
Cibola County Manager Kate Fletcher said the county’s role in the ICE portion of detention activity ended when the new contract began. As of May 1, Fletcher said the county is “not involved with the ICE inmates in any way shape or form.”
What HB 9 was Expected to Do — What’s Happening Instead
During legislative debate over HB 9, opponents argued the law could lead to detention facilities in New Mexico closing and cause major economic harm to rural communities tied to detention-related payroll and local revenues. Supporters countered that New Mexico should not use public bodies or public resources to facilitate federal civil immigration detention, citing concerns about detention conditions, due process, and accountability.
HB 9 passed the New Mexico House of Representatives 40-29 with one member excused on January 30.
Martha Garcia, a Democrat who represents House District 6 and the western half of Cibola in Santa Fe, voted NAY on this bill. Michelle Pauline Abeyta, a Democrat who represents House District 69 and the eastern half of Cibola in Santa Fe, voted YES on this bill.
HB 9 passed the New Mexico Senate with a vote of 24-15 on February 3 after taking an expedited path through the state senate.
George Munoz, a Democrat who represents Senate District 4 and the western half of Cibola County voted NAY. Angel Charley, a Democrat who represents Senate District 30 and the Eastern half of Cibola voted YES.
The new federal contract appears to settle at least one major uncertainty: detention operations in Cibola and Torrance counties are expected to continue, even as HB 9 takes effect, because HB9 only governs what “public bodies” like county governments may do – not what private companies or the federal government may do.
In other words, HB 9 changes who can be a party to certain detention agreements in New Mexico. It does not prevent the federal government from contracting directly with private detention companies. HB 9 removed all local leverage and right of county commissioners to inspect the facility.
Jobs Remain, Leverage and Transparency Shift
Local officials have argued that local involvement with the Department of Homeland Security provided a measure of visibility and accountability.
Supporters of HB 9 have argued that local involvement made New Mexico a facilitator of civil detention and exposed public bodies to liability and what they called “moral compromise.” The direct contract shifts that entire relationship: ICE and CoreCivic now negotiate directly, and local governments are no longer party to the contract.
That shift could affect what information is readily available to the public, what documents can be requested through local channels, and how complaints are processed – although federal oversight mechanisms and legal protections still apply, including federal inspection processes and litigation pathways.
Even with a direct contract in place, several key questions remain open for Cibola County residents and local governments: ICE has confirmed the contract, but the full terms including the total contracted capacity, per-diem structure, and scope of services - are not publicly described in the information released so far.
Even if detention continues, changes in contracting structure could still alter how money flows and what local governments can claim as lost revenue or increased costs. This is relevant to Cibola because state lawmakers advanced mitigation funding earlier this session through SB 273 to address estimated impacts to Cibola County, Milan, and Grants tied to HB 9-related uncertainty.
The Federal Lawsuit
While the federal government has been working to sidestep the effects of HB 9 for Cibola and Torrance, the facility in Otero County was not part of the DHS deal.
As the state prepares to implement HB 9, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop New Mexico from enforcing the Immigrant Safety Act. In a motion filed May 8 in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, the United States asked for a preliminary injunction to prevent HB 9 from taking effect on May 20, 2026, while the case proceeds.
The filing focuses heavily on Otero County’s detention operation, arguing HB 9 would force an end to the long-running intergovernmental detention agreement between ICE and Otero County, and would prohibit use of the Otero County Processing Center (OCPC) for civil immigration detention. DOJ argues that OCPC is “critical to federal immigration operations,” stating it houses up to 1,096 detainees and is the only New Mexico civil detention site able to house both male and female detainees and higher-risk individuals.
In its motion, the federal government lays out multiple constitutional theories for why it believes HB 9 is invalid:
Contract Clause: DOJ argues HB 9 unlawfully impairs the Otero–ICE agreement, citing the U.S. Constitution’s ban on state laws “impairing the Obligation of Contracts.” The motion characterizes HB 9 as legislation designed to make performance of the federal contract impossible and contends that is the type of impairment the Contract Clause was meant to prevent.
Supremacy Clause / preemption: DOJ argues HB 9 conflicts with federal immigration law by limiting or blocking agreements that Congress has explicitly contemplated as part of federal detention operations, and that the law “stands as an obstacle” to the federal immigration scheme.
Intergovernmental immunity / discrimination: DOJ also argues HB 9 unlawfully regulates or discriminates against the federal government by singling out federal civil immigration enforcement for restrictions while allowing other types of detention and law enforcement activity.
DOJ’s Claimed Harms if HB 9 is Enforced
The federal filing argues that if HB 9 takes effect, it would cause “immediate and irreparable harm” to federal immigration detention operations, including forcing transfers to facilities out of state and reducing detention capacity in the region. In the ICE declaration attached to the filing, the federal government states that OCPC is the only New Mexico civil facility that can house female detainees, and it outlines distances from Otero to New Mexico’s other facilities – ioncluding Cibola County Correctional Center (Milan) at roughly 326 miles (about five hours by car) and Torrance at about 216 miles (about three hours).
The motion also points to economic consequences in Otero County, arguing that if OCPC cannot be used for civil immigration detention, the county could face lost revenue and bond-related impacts, and the federal government asks the court to preserve the longrunning status quo while the case is litigated The new ICE–Core-Civic contract means immigrant detention in Milan and Estancia is not ending on May 20 simply because HB 9 takes effect. Instead, what is ending is the county’s role as the middleman for civil immigration detention contracting.
The Cibola Citizen will continue tracking contract details, local fiscal impacts, and the court challenge to HB 9 as the new law takes effect and the legal and operational realities settle into place.