UNITED STATES NEWS

Asylum seekers are being set up for rejection at a New Mexico detention facility, rights groups say

Aug 22, 2023, 4:12 PM

The Torrance County Detention Facility is shown, Sept. 29, 2022, in Estancia, N.M. A coalition of h...

The Torrance County Detention Facility is shown, Sept. 29, 2022, in Estancia, N.M. A coalition of human rights groups on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023, leveled new criticism at the privately operated migrant detention facility in New Mexico, where they say fast-track asylum screenings routinely take place without legal counsel or adequate privacy during sensitive testimony. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)

SANTA FE, N.M (AP) — A coalition of human rights groups on Tuesday leveled new criticism at a privately operated migrant detention facility in New Mexico, where they say fast-track asylum screenings routinely take place without legal counsel or adequate privacy during sensitive testimony.

The rights groups say the broken screening system at the Torrance County Detention Facility means that migrants with strong, viable claims to asylum — who can’t go back to their country because of persecution or the threat of torture — are instead being screened out inappropriately for deportation as the Biden administration seeks to impose severe limitations on migrants hoping for asylum at the border.

The 187-page complaint and findings were made by the American Civil Liberties Union and three advocacy groups that provide legal services to asylum seekers. They’re urging the U.S. government to end its contract with the private company that runs the facility, which is overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The report also catalogued complaints of retaliation against migrants who raise objections to asylum procedures and living conditions.

The report arrives roughly a year after Brazilian migrant Kesley Vial killed himself during detention at the Torrance County facility. The 23-year-old was scheduled for removal when he took his own life.

Most initial interviews at the facility are being conducted without access to a crucial legal orientation, and other key legal requirements are routinely ignored, the groups say. As migrants appeal their initial rejection to an immigration judge, many are denied access to files in their own cases, leaving them to challenge “secret decisions they have never seen,” according to the report.

The Torrance County facility was repurposed in January to conduct expedited asylum screenings as immigration officials started to unwind coronavirus restrictions on asylum that allowed the U.S. to quickly turn back migrants, the report says. The complaint outlines how ICE has fast-tracked hundreds of asylum screenings at the facility in Estancia, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of the U.S. border with Mexico.

Advocacy groups estimate about 30% of detainees at the facility have passed asylum screenings since December 2022, far below the national average of 73% for the December-July period. That national average slid to 56% in the July 16-31 period.

Those who pass initial asylum screenings — to determine whether there is a “credible fear” of persecution or torture — are generally freed into the U.S. to pursue their asylum cases in court. Those who fail are supposed to be deported.

“The credible fear process at Torrance County Detention Facility is particularly flawed, pass rates are unusually low and many individuals detained … are deprived of due process,” says the report, signed by the New Mexico Immigration Law Center, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and Innovation Law Lab.

The administrative complaint was filed directly to U.S. immigration authorities at the Department of Homeland Security, urging the agency to terminate the contract at Torrance County with private detention company CoreCivic.

Representatives of CoreCivic did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. Media representatives for Homeland Security had no immediate response to the report.

It’s unclear whether screening arrangements by ICE at Torrance County are replicated elsewhere — the advocacy groups didn’t survey facilities in other states for the purposes of the complaint.

The report also describes situations where initial screening interviews by telephone with asylum officers are easily overheard by other migrants, citing testimonials from migrants who express alarm at the lack of privacy and fear of recounting past persecution abroad, including conflicts with organized crime and sexual assault. Those initial interviews with asylum officers take place in cubicles separated by thin partitions that don’t reach the ceiling and white-noise machines that reportedly don’t do enough to drown out conversations.

Alberto Mendez, a 33-year-old Salvadoran national, said his asylum screening at the Torrance County Detention Facility took place in unison with 15 other migrants, without prior legal advice, and ended in rejection.

“The cubicles don’t have a roof, they just have dividers. So we all hear what everyone is saying. Everything,” said Mendez, a father of three who worked as a cook and Uber driver on the outskirts of San Salvador until he fled threats and relentless recruitment campaigns by gangs.

“My fear was that what you were saying would be divulged in your own country,” he said. “And that could bring reprisals and even bigger consequences.”

Aside from the procedural issues, a federal watchdog in early 2022 detailed unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the Torrance County facility during an unannounced inspection — recommending that everyone be transferred elsewhere. Those findings from the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General were disputed by CoreCivic and ICE officials.

CoreCivic has said the detention center is monitored closely by ICE and is required to undergo regular reviews and audits to ensure an appropriate standard of living for all detainees and adherence agency’s strict standards and policies.

Support for the facility among elected officials has wavered. Six U.S. senators including New Mexico’s Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján last year urged ICE to end its contract at Torrance County.

A panel of state legislators met Tuesday to revisit a failed bill to restriction immigrant detention in New Mexico. The state Senate in March voted down the initiative, which would’ve prohibited local government agencies from contracting with ICE to detain migrants as they seek asylum.

States including California, Illinois and New Jersey have enacted legislation in recent years aimed at reining in migrant detention centers in their territory.

United States News

FILE - President Joe Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom wait for reporters to leave the room du...

Associated Press

California governor to name Laphonza Butler, former Kamala Harris adviser, to Feinstein Senate seat

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom will name Laphonza Butler, a Democratic strategist and adviser to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a spokesman in his office said Sunday. In choosing Butler, Newsom fulfilled his pledge to appoint a Black woman […]

43 minutes ago

File - The Southern University Human Jukebox marching band warms up before the 2023 National Battle...

Associated Press

Federal student loan payments are starting again. Here’s what you need to know

Federal student loan borrowers will need to start making payments again this month after a three-year-plus pause due to the pandemic.

48 minutes ago

Associated Press

A woman who fled the Maui wildfire on foot has died after weeks in a hospital burn unit

HONOLULU (AP) — A woman who escaped a wildfire that destroyed Hawaii community by running through a burning field has died after spending more than seven weeks in a hospital burn unit. Laurie Allen died Friday at Straub Medical Center in Honolulu, according to a gofundme page set up for her and her husband, Perry […]

8 hours ago

Associated Press

Inmate accused of killing corrections officer at Georgia prison

GLENNVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia prison guard died Sunday after he was attacked by an inmate, state officials said. Correctional officer Robert Clark, 42, died at a hospital after an inmate assaulted him with a homemade weapon at Smith State Prison in rural Glennville, the Georgia Department of Corrections said in a news release. […]

9 hours ago

FILE - The U.S. Supreme Court is seen, Wednesday, Aug 30, 2023, in Washington. The new term of the ...

Associated Press

The Supreme Court may tackle guns, abortion in new session starting Monday

Major cases await, as they always do, including several challenges to regulatory agencies and efforts to regulate social media platforms.

9 hours ago

Associated Press

Video shows bloodied Black man surrounded by officers during Florida traffic stop

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A traffic stop captured on video by a bystander shows a handcuffed Black man with swollen eyes and a bloody face sitting on the ground surrounded by officers outside a vehicle in northeast Florida, and the officers’ law enforcement agency says it has launched an internal review. Force was used while […]

9 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

Sanderson Ford...

Sanderson Ford

Sanderson Ford congratulates D-backs’ on drive to great first half of 2023

The Arizona Diamondbacks just completed a red-hot first half of the major league season, and Sanderson Ford wants to send its congratulations to the ballclub.

...

re:vitalize

When most diets fail, re:vitalize makes a difference that shows

Staying healthy and losing weight are things many people in Arizona are conscious of, especially during the summer.

...

Ability360

At Ability360, every day is Independence Day

With 100 different programs and services, more than 1,500 non-medically based home care staff, a world-renowned Sports & Fitness Center and over 15,000 people with disabilities served annually, across all ages and demographics, Ability360 is a nationwide leader in the disability community.

Asylum seekers are being set up for rejection at a New Mexico detention facility, rights groups say