The Roundhouse in Santa Fe. Post file photo
By CLARA BATES
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Editor’s note: If the House takes action on this bill tonight there may be an updated version.
Local governments in New Mexico affected by the state’s decision to ban contracts with the federal government to hold immigration detainees could receive “bridge funding” under legislation the Senate passed unanimously Wednesday.
The Senate’s vote to pass Senate Bill 273 came with only around 24 hours before the end of this year’s regular legislative session. The bill, which also cleared two Senate committees with no opposition, would still need to get through the House by noon Thursday to reach the governor’s desk.
Under the proposal, the state would direct roughly $15 million over two years to help fill in lost revenue for cities and counties that stand to lose from House Bill 9, which was signed into law earlier in the session. That law, called the Immigrant Safety Act, bans public entities from contracting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain people accused of civil immigration violations, and bars agreements between local law enforcement and ICE to carry out immigration enforcement.
New Mexico is home to three detention facilities that contract with ICE — in Cibola, Otero and Torrance counties. Otero County officials have said it’s likely their facility will close. It remains to be seen what will happen in Cibola and Otero counties, where the jails are owned by the private prison companies rather than the counties themselves.
The House earlier this month rejected a proposed amendment to the state budget that would have required the state Department of Finance Administration to reimburse losses suffered by counties that lose revenue under HB 9.
Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, one of the sponsors of SB 273, said the proposal is a short-term way to help local economies that rely on immigrant detention.
“This is not a bailout. This is not permanent funding. This is a two-year bridge to protect public safety, bond holders, infrastructure and local taxpayers,” Muñoz said on the Senate floor Wednesday.
Sen. Jim Townsend, R-Artesia, who has been urging the Trump administration to take action against HB 9, said SB 273 is “barely a fix … but it is something that will help.”
Proponents of the Immigrant Safety Act, which passed the Legislature largely along party lines, said it was designed to get the state out of the business of immigrant detention, while mostly Republican legislators from the areas in question said it would likely shutter the facilities and decimate local economies.
Immigration detention facilities in New Mexico may shut down as a result of the new ban on public contracting, depending on whether private companies decide to contract directly with ICE.
Specifically, the bill would direct $600,000 to Estancia, $600,000 to Torrance County, $5.94 million to Otero County, $1.4 million to Milan, $1.7 million to Grants and $750,000 to Cibola County to make up for potential lost local gross receipts tax revenue.
The bill would also direct $3.2 million to Cibola County to pay to transport prisoners from Cibola County to another facility and another $850,000 to Milan to make up for the potential loss of property tax revenue and revenue from water and sewer services.