People Held in ICE Custody at The Torrance County Detention Facility Expose Ongoing Unlivable Conditions and Demand Change

Media Contact Email: Sophia Genovese, sgenovese@nmilc.org 

07|11|2023

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – People held in ICE custody at the Torrance County Detention Facility have consistently issued statements regarding the ongoing mistreatment and poor conditions inside of the facility. They continue to detail unlivable dorm units, inedible food, mistreatment and discrimination by guards and ICE staff, and due process violations in their asylum proceedings.  

Today, detainees released a statement and a list of demands providing a firsthand account of ongoing abuses at Torrance County Detention Facility. The original document with its signatories can be accessed here. Below is an English translation:  

We are men detained at [Torrance County Detention Facility]. Since we arrived here, we have experienced the reality of how immigrants are treated in the United States. They don’t let us contact our family members, the food is inadequate, and the people detained like us should not be treated like we have been. 

In our countries, people with disabilities receive medical care, unlike here. They are killing us mentally. The officers here speak to us only in English, but we understand when they insult us. We have no place to escape this treatment. They have us locked down- we are going crazy. When we sleep, the officers keep the lights on. They are violating our human rights. 

Our countries have opened their doors to any person that wants to come; any person can easily apply for a visa. But here in the US, citizens take priority. For example, an American citizen can come to Ecuador, enjoy our country, and do what they please. 

But when we come, asking for help, to be able to work and do our part, they treat us like animals. They don’t have humanity; our rights don’t exist here.  

We are demanding… 

There be available medical care. 

There be adequate food to eat, not raw. 

To not have to wait many hours to drink water. 

That the guards treat us with dignity and without vulgarities. 

That the Asylum officers conducting credible fear interviews have credentials to properly decide outcomes. 

That those who already have deportation orders be deported as soon as possible instead of them having to wait months in this “prison.”  

This statement further corroborates the horrific conditions inside of New Mexico’s ICE detention centers detailed in two recent reports. The first report, Complaints by Migrants and Asylum Seekers in the ICE El Paso Area of Responsibility: Annual Report 2022, synthesizes the data of different complaints received by legal service providers during the 2022 calendar year. The report documented 86 experiences of medical neglect, 68 complaints about lack of legal access, 67 issues relating to unsanitary conditions, staff mistreatment, and not being given consistent access to edible food and clean drinking water, 50 language access complaints, and 42 due process complaints.  

The second report, Protocols & Practices of Degradation & Dehumanization: ICE Civilly Detained Migrant Study, Analysis of Detention Conditions & Migrant Experiences highlights the direct testimonies of individuals in New Mexico’s three ICE detention facilities from January to May 2023, and assesses the psychological impact of detention on asylum seekers. The report finds that the routine obfuscation of essential information by officials and an overall lack of access to legal counsel causes an ongoing state of anxiety, panic, and stress.