{"id":603536,"date":"2018-07-17T09:20:13","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T15:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=603536"},"modified":"2018-07-19T05:40:03","modified_gmt":"2018-07-19T11:40:03","slug":"immigrants-share-harrowing-tales-from-detention-with-nm-lawmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/07\/immigrants-share-harrowing-tales-from-detention-with-nm-lawmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigrants share harrowing tales from detention with NM lawmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_603540\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-603540\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/20180716_154914-771x434-771x434.jpg\" alt=\"Legislative hearing\" width=\"771\" height=\"434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/20180716_154914-771x434.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/20180716_154914-771x434-336x189.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/20180716_154914-771x434-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">New Mexico In Depth photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Immigrants from the African countries Congo and Guinea told lawmakers Monday about the conditions and treatment at two immigration detention facilities in New Mexico.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Carlos Medrano of Mexico had to wait six days before guards let him call his family from the Otero County Correctional facility, where he spent two and a half months incarcerated by a private prison company that holds undocumented immigrants for the federal government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey didn\u2019t respect us,\u201d Medrano, of Mexico, told New Mexico state lawmakers through a translator in Santa Fe on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Roberto Gonzalez of Anthony, N.M., talked about the sadness he felt not seeing his family for three months.<\/p>\n<p>Gonzalez was arrested by U.S. Immigration &amp; Customs Enforcement agents outside a courthouse where he had gone to conduct business that \u201che had a right to conduct,\u201d he said through a translator.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/07\/16\/immigrants-share-harrowing-tales-from-detention\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico In Depth<\/a>. Sign up for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&amp;id=9294743d38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Like Medrano, Gonzalez found himself locked up in one of two private facilities in New Mexico that house undocumented immigrants for ICE. \u201cI have three kids, the oldest is in university,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>For more than an hour, a line of immigrants told similarly harrowing tales of their time in lock-up at the two detention facilities. The speakers included a Nicaraguan trans woman and a young woman named Leila from Somalia who spent a year and a half incarcerated.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone who comes to the United States for asylum should be treated in the proper way, she said, because they have good reason for seeking asylum.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho wants to leave their family back home? I left my baby of 2 years old back home,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy would I leave my baby and come here, a foreign land, where I do not have family?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leila urged lawmakers to look into conditions in the detention centers, saying while it doesn\u2019t have to be the best, \u201cit should be human.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>State lawmakers scheduled Monday\u2019s hearing to determine what, if any, authority the state might exert to learn more about the conditions in immigrant detention facilities in Otero and Cibola counties &#8212; and to find out if they have jurisdiction to require changes.<\/p>\n<p>The answers state lawmakers were looking for were in scarce supply Monday. In part because the acting director of ICE, who had been invited, did not show up. Nor did representatives of CoreCivic and Management and Training Corporation, the two private prison companies that operate the facilities. That piqued some state lawmakers who publicly expressed their displeasure.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Democratic Rep. Javier Mart\u00ednez described the unresponsiveness as \u201cdisrespectful,\u201d adding \u201cIt\u2019s disappointing that a body like ours would be so grossly ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ann Morse, director of he National Conference of State Legislatures\u2019 Immigrant Policy Project, told lawmakers that the recent trend among states is to lower the number of people in their prisons. \u201cThese facilities are increasingly being used to house immigrants,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Morse was unable to answer lawmakers\u2019 questions about what jurisdiction New Mexico might have to get answers to their questions about conditions in the facilities. She promised to research and get back to the New Mexico Legislature.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Jim Dines, one of the few Republican lawmakers to show up for Monday\u2019s hearing, encouraged his colleagues to think about using contracts the private prison operators have signed with public governments \u2014 in this case, the two counties where they are operating \u2014 to access public records related to the facilities.<\/p>\n<p>The conditions in the two facilities and the treatment of undocumented immigrants housed there have\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/06\/27\/nm-may-become-among-first-states-to-seek-oversight-on-immigration-detention-centers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">become a high-profile issue<\/a>\u00a0as the Trump administration has cracked down on immigrants across the nation. Unlike previous administrations, people who have no criminal records and pose no threat to public safety are now being targeted by ICE, a change that has provoked widespread protests and criticism.<\/p>\n<p>Monday&#8217;s hearing also follows the high-profile death in May of Roxsana Hernandez, a 33-year-old trans woman who died of HIV-related complications soon after her transfer to the Cibola County facility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEquating immigrants with street criminals is unconscionable. But It\u2019s good politics,\u201d Albuquerque Democratic Rep. Antonio Maestas said.<\/p>\n<p>Among Monday\u2019s speakers was Adriel Orozco. An attorney with the New Mexico Immigration Law Center, Orozco has visited both facilities and said about 70 fathers who had been separated from their families were currently locked up in the Cibola County facility. Along with his testimony he submitted a packet of letters from those fathers.<\/p>\n<p>A troubling issue Orozco focused on is lack of legal representation for immigrants, who have a much greater chance of prevailing in court if they have an attorney. According to Orozco only about 14 percent of detained immigrants across the nation have legal representation.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_603541\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-603541\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/20180716_131537-771x578-771x578.jpg\" alt=\"Legislative hearing\" width=\"771\" height=\"578\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/20180716_131537-771x578.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/20180716_131537-771x578-336x252.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/20180716_131537-771x578-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">New Mexico In Depth photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">It was nearly standing-room-only at Monday\u2019s hearing focusing on conditions at two immigration detention facilities in New Mexico.<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Following the money<\/h3>\n<p>While New Mexico is in the top tier of states that rely on private prison contractors \u2014 nearly half of New Mexico\u2019s prisons are privately operated\u00a0\u2014 the industry doesn\u2019t throw money around like some others when it comes to donating to campaigns. CoreCivic, formerly Corrections Corporation of America, and The Geo Group are the primary givers, a review by NMID found. MTC gives only nominally.<\/p>\n<p>For the 2018 election cycle to date, CoreCivic and Geo have given $28,800 to state-level candidates. While the giving is relatively small compared to other industries, it\u2019s higher than in years past, with months to go before the end of the election cycle.<\/p>\n<p>One of the lawmakers asking questions at Monday\u2019s hearing \u2014 Rep. Eliseo Alcon, D-Milan \u2014 is one of two in the Legislature to have received campaign contributions from the private prison operators in each of the five election cycles from 2010 through 2018.<\/p>\n<p>The other is Gallup Democratic Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, who chairs the Legislature\u2019s powerful House budget committee.<\/p>\n<p>Alcon, who represents Cibola County, spoke Monday about the importance of the immigrant detention facility to the economy of his \u201clittle community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to find a way to keep people employed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to giving about $121,000 directly to candidates from 2010 on, The Geo Group and CoreCivic have contributed $104,250 to political action committees over the same period. Of that, $80,200 went to Advance New Mexico Now, a group closely aligned with Susana Martinez. Another $10,000, in 2016, went to a conservative New Mexico PAC, NM Prosperity. But so far in the 2018 election cycle, just one $500 contribution has been reported by CoreCivic to New Mexico Senate Democrats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>State lawmakers are exploring what, if any, authority the state might exert to learn more about the conditions in immigrant detention facilities in Otero and Cibola counties &#8212; and if they have jurisdiction to require changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":603540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,203,705,107],"class_list":["post-603536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-law-enforcement","tag-money-in-politics","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}