Local and state authorities block ICE plans to turn warehouses into detention centers

"Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is struggling to find space for the thousands of detainees it has overcrowded in its detention centers. The Department of Homeland Security has been trying to buy properties specifically warehouses to convert them into detention centers or to build new ones on empty lots. But these plans have not been well received. Citizens have protested the presence of ICE facilities"

"In New Mexico, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the Immigrant Safety Act last week, which in addition to prohibiting public agencies from entering into agreements to detain people for immigration violations mandates the termination of any existing such agreements and bans the use of public property as ICE detention centers. Angelica Rubio, one of the Democratic legislators who championed the new law, had been trying to get it passed for 10 years."

"Deportations have become more violent and more visible, and I think that's what changed the minds of the legislators, who, year after year wouldn't let us pass this law. Seeing what has happened in Minnesota, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and knowing that we are part of that system, is what finally allowed us to get it passed, Rubio said in a phone interview."

ICE faces overcrowding and is seeking to expand detention capacity by buying warehouses and building new facilities on empty lots. Local residents, mayors from both parties, property owners, and state legislators have mobilized to resist those efforts through protests, refusals to sell, and legal bans on new detention centers. New Mexico enacted the Immigrant Safety Act to prohibit public agencies from detaining people for immigration violations, terminate existing detention agreements, and ban the use of public property for ICE facilities. Increased visibility and violence of deportations helped sway legislators. The ACLU documents harm in existing New Mexico detention centers, including excessive solitary confinement and inadequate medical care.

Read at english.elpais.com