New Mexico Governor Bans ICE Detention Facilities in State

Santa Fe –

On February 5th, 2026, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the Immigrant Safety Act, House Bill 9. The signing is at the heels of public outcry from ICE enforcement in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

During a live-stream posted of the bill signing, the Governor said:

“It’s complicated. There isn’t anyone in this room who and in America troubled, concerned, and quite frankly afraid at what they are seeing on national news.”

She went on to say this was her bill that she wanted to get through the short 30-day session. She said she would negotiate with the federal government to go after serious federal crimes.

The bill outlines that state, county, and city’s to forbid them from entering into agreements to detain individuals for federal civil immigration violations and requiring public bodies to terminate any such existing agreements.

Currently, private contractor CoreCivic operates three facilities in New Mexico that houses federal detainees. That includes illegal immigrants.

We reached out to CoreCivic on the possibility of them being shut down and what the financial impact of closing Their facility would be in the towns effected.

“We are in close contact with our government partners to determine how best to meet their needs going forward. Our priority is to continue caring for each person in our facilities respectfully and humanely,” said Ryan Gustin, Senior Director of Public Affairs for CoreCivic.

A 2021 New Mexico Legislature fiscal impact report said CoreCivic was the largest property tax contributor to Torrance County and generates large amount of Gross Receipt Taxes to New Mexico.

The report goes on to say, the Otero County facility employees 300 employees. It did not indicate the average salary of the employees at these facilities.

Local counties and towns may have to find alternative jobs for people working at these facilities with the tight regulations imposed by this new law.

We reached out to the Homeland Security Investigations who oversees ICE on how they will continue with detentions of illegal immigrants. We have not heard back, but will update this story if they do.

House Bill 9 will become law on May 20th, 2026.