The motion, filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, argues that the Trump administration’s claims each fail as a matter of constitutional law.
Source: N.M. Department of Justice
Santa Fe, NM — Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a motion this week to dismiss the federal government’s lawsuit challenging the Immigrant Safety Act (HB9), the law that prohibits state and local government entities from entering into agreements to detain, investigate, or apprehend individuals for civil immigration violations.
The motion, filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, argues that the Trump administration’s claims each fail as a matter of constitutional law.
“New Mexico gets to decide how New Mexico’s resources are used. That principle is older than the federal government itself, and no administration gets to simply wave it away,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “The federal government can build its own detention facilities. It can hire its own officers. What it cannot do is compel this state to participate in a federal program that New Mexicans, through their elected Legislature, have decided is not in their interest. We will defend that decision in court.”
The motion argues, among other things:
- Federal law does not override HB9. The provisions cited by the government are grants of authority to federal officials and invitations for voluntary state cooperation. None of them require states to participate in immigration enforcement, and several explicitly say so. A state’s choice not to volunteer its resources does not violate federal law.
- HB9 does not block federal immigration enforcement. The federal government remains free to detain immigrants in its own facilities, contract with private companies, or build new facilities in New Mexico. HB9 simply means New Mexico’s public resources will not be part of that effort.
- The 2026 Otero County detention contract is void. The motion argues that the 2026 intergovernmental services agreement between ICE and Otero County was executed after the Legislature had already declared HB9 the law of the state, making it unenforceable as contrary to public policy. The agreement was also executed during a meeting that initially lacked proper public notice.
- The remaining agreements are not legally enforceable contracts. The 287(g) deputization agreements with Curry and Torrance counties provide no compensation to the counties, can be terminated by either party at any time for any reason, and expressly state they do not create any enforceable rights. Under New Mexico law, they are not contracts at all.
The Legislature’s decision to pass HB9 was informed in part by a sustained record of serious problems at the Otero County Processing Center, the only publicly-owned detention facility covered by the law. Those problems include the death of a 32-year-old man in immigration custody, documented overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and credible allegations of retaliatory use of solitary confinement against detainees. The facility has operated under intergovernmental agreements with ICE in various forms since 2008.
“States have always had the authority to decide which federal programs they participate in and which they do not,” said Torrez. “The New Mexico Legislature looked at what was happening inside that facility, looked at the role it was asking our public institutions to play, and said no. That is not obstruction. That is self-governance. And it is fully within the Legislature’s power to make that call.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.