New Mexico Supreme Court Faces High-Stakes Showdown Over Otero County ICE Detention Facility

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — April 10, 2026 — The New Mexico Supreme Court is at the center of one of the most consequential legal battles in recent state history, after Otero County Attorney R.B. Nichols filed a sweeping 29-page rebuttal Wednesday challenging Attorney General Raúl Torrez's emergency petition to void the county's contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The filing, obtained through a public records request, accuses the AG of manufacturing a legal crisis out of whole cloth — and documents years of state silence that, Nichols argues, proves the county was acting lawfully all along.

The AG's Petition: A Manufactured Emergency, County Says

Attorney General Torrez filed his petition on April 1, 2026, seeking an immediate stay and invalidation of the Intergovernmental Service Agreement between Otero County and ICE for detaining individuals at the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral. The AG argued the agreement is unlawful on two grounds: that New Mexico municipalities lack statutory authority to detain individuals for the federal government based solely on civil immigration violations, and that Otero County failed to obtain required approval from the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, rendering the contract void. newmexicoconservativenews

The AG's office went further in public statements, declaring that "Otero County's conduct is precisely the kind of maneuver HB 9 was designed to prevent," pointing to an emergency commission meeting it said was convened with minimal public notice to rush through a new five-year agreement just before their previous contract expired. 

But Otero County's response, filed April 8 under Case No. S-1-SC-41362 by County Attorney Nichols alongside outside counsel Samantha M. Adams and Paul J. Kennedy, paints an entirely different picture. For eighteen years — since the Otero County Processing Center opened in 2008 — the State of New Mexico said nothing about the county serving the federal government in detaining noncitizens. Not a word from the AG's office. Not a letter from the Department of Finance and Administration. Not a challenge from the Legislature. Nothing. Now, forty-nine days before House Bill 9 takes effect, the AG has filed what the county's brief calls a "manufactured emergency." 

The full Otero County response and exhibits filed with the New Mexico Supreme Court can be reviewed here: Otero County Response to AG Mandamus Petition with Exhibits — Google Drive

What Is At Stake for Otero County

The county's filing lays out the real-world consequences of granting the AG's request in stark terms. The Otero County Processing Center houses approximately 900 federal civil immigration detainees, employs about 284 county residents, and secures more than $14 million in outstanding, irrevocably pledged county revenue bonds. The reserve fund backing those bonds holds only $5,450,303.66 — less than half the outstanding principal — with the next interest payment due October 1, 2026. newmexicoconservativenews

The county's brief states plainly: "If mandamus issues, County residents will suffer." 

The State's Own Hands Are Not Clean, Nichols Argues

One of the most striking sections of the county's response targets the state's own participation in the arrangement it now calls illegal. According to documents provided by County Attorney Nichols, in early 2024 a Department of Justice attorney named Daniel Rubin collaborated with the county and the General Services Department to revise, finalize, and approve the MTC Operations Agreement — the operational contract that explicitly depends on the ICE Intergovernmental Service Agreement for its revenues. Rubin and a colleague signed their approval in February 2024. 

The county's response also attaches a 2007 DFA memorandum on intergovernmental agreements that the AG never mentioned in his petition. That memo — the state's own finance department's guidance — explicitly instructs that intergovernmental services agreements like the one at issue here are not joint powers agreements and should not be processed through the JPAA framework. That is the exact framework the AG is now claiming the county was required to use. 

"The State did not merely acquiesce in the OCPC structure," the county's brief states. "It actively approved and administered it."

Five Legal Reasons the Court Should Deny the Petition

County Attorney Nichols and outside counsel lay out five threshold reasons the court should deny the petition before even reaching the merits, any one of which they argue is independently sufficient. 

First, there is no lawful act the county can actually perform to comply with a writ. The contract's Article 14 gives only ICE the right to terminate, and the county has no authority to unilaterally release or expel federal detainees held under federal administrative warrants. Second, the United States government is an indispensable party to this case and cannot be compelled to appear in state court due to sovereign immunity. Third, the AG has identified no clear, settled legal duty the county violated — these are first-impression legal theories no New Mexico court has ever answered. Fourth, adequate remedies exist through ordinary court proceedings. Fifth, the state's own bond pledge statute bars the relief sought, as it prohibits the state from limiting the county's rights to fulfill terms of any agreements made with bondholders. 

The AG's Logic Contradicts Itself, Brief Claims

The county's response includes one of the sharpest legal observations in the entire filing — an internal contradiction in the AG's own position. If Otero County truly lacked legal authority to operate a federal detention facility since 2008, then House Bill 9 — which prospectively bans counties from entering or renewing ICE detention contracts — was entirely unnecessary. Legislatures do not prohibit conduct that is already illegal. 

As the brief puts it: "HB 9's existence is the Legislature's acknowledgment that the County's authority was real, that the IGSA was valid, and that prospective legislative action was required to change that." newmexicoconservativenews

The ACLU's Position: The Bond Argument Has Always Been Overstated

While Otero County frames its bond debt as a catastrophic obstacle to closure, the ACLU of New Mexico has long challenged that framing — and their position adds a significant counterpoint to the county's current legal arguments.

In a detailed 2021 analysis, the ACLU examined the bond structure underlying the facility. Reilly White, a public finance expert who reviewed Otero County's bond filings, painted a markedly different picture from what county officials had publicly claimed. According to White, the county is under no obligation to pay back those bonds if the facility closes, and a default would have little, if any, impact on its credit rating. aclu-nm

The trade-off for protecting the county's taxes is a higher interest rate. The OCPC revenue bonds were originally issued with a 9 percent interest rate, compared to a likely interest rate between 3 and 5 percent for a similar general obligation bond. "That's an extraordinarily expensive bond for financing purposes and it implies there's a lot of risk in bonds like these," White said. aclu-nm

Crucially, the expert explained what would actually happen in a closure scenario. Were OCPC to close, an account set up for paying back the bonds has enough reserves to keep making payments while the county decides what to do next. If that process ultimately failed, the property would likely go up for sale, with proceeds going to pay back bondholders. There would be no obligation for the county to use tax money to pay off the bonds or any difference between the sale price and remaining debt. aclu-nm

The ACLU also challenged the county's claims about the facility's economic importance. Since fiscal year 2018, Otero County has received almost $1.3 million in revenue from OCPC, less than the nearly $2.3 million it has made from another prison facility also managed by MTC. Last fiscal year, OCPC brought in $457,730 to the county — roughly 3 percent of its total revenues. aclu-nm

The ACLU's communications director said at the time that "Otero County actively sought out a way to profit off of human misery and succeeded in making over a million a year," adding that "the real reason they want to keep it open is so they can continue making money, regardless of the human costs that result." aclu-nm

The ACLU also documented a lengthy record of alleged mistreatment at the facility. A 2017 Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report found moldy bathrooms and broken telephones at the facility, as well as frequent, unjustified use of solitary confinement. The problems at OCPC and four other facilities reviewed "undermine the protection of detainees' rights, their humane treatment, and the provision of a safe and healthy environment," the report said. aclu-nm

Opposition View: HB 9 Is the Democratic Will of the Legislature

Supporters of the Attorney General's position and proponents of House Bill 9 argue that the county's emergency contract renewal was a deliberate maneuver to circumvent a law already passed by the New Mexico Legislature. From their perspective, the AG's petition is not a manufactured crisis — it is the proper exercise of the state's authority to enforce its laws before a county can entrench a long-term federal contract that the legislature has determined is contrary to state public policy.

They further contend that the county's bond argument — while legally sophisticated — is ultimately a financial shield being used to protect a detention operation that has faced documented allegations of abuse, inadequate medical care, and civil rights violations spanning nearly two decades. If the bonds are truly revenue-only obligations that carry no tax liability to county residents, as independent financial experts have concluded, then the catastrophic financial warnings in the county's brief may be far more alarming in their framing than in their actual legal consequence.

What the Supreme Court Must Now Decide

The New Mexico Supreme Court is being asked to resolve questions that cut to the heart of state and local authority, federal-state relations, and financial obligations to bondholders — all on an accelerated timeline. With HB 9's May 20 effective date approaching, the court's timeline is compressed. A ruling — in either direction — is expected in the coming weeks.

The justices must weigh several difficult and intertwined questions: Does a New Mexico county have the statutory authority to operate a federal civil immigration detention facility? Did Otero County's failure to seek DFA approval render the contract void — and if so, can the state void it now after two decades of silence and active participation? Can a state court grant relief against a contract to which the federal government is a party? And does the state's own bond pledge statute prohibit the very relief the AG is seeking?

The county has signaled it intends to challenge HB 9's constitutionality when the time comes, arguing that the law conflicts with federal statutes authorizing ICE to contract with local governments, that it violates the Contracts Clause, and that the state's own bond pledge statute independently protects the county's right to maintain its revenue-generating contracts. 

If the AG's actual goal is improving conditions for detainees, the county's brief frames the likely outcome of the stay bluntly: detainees would not be released. They would be transferred out of state, farther from their families and attorneys, "functionally ensuring they are shuttled off to Texas" — with no improvement in their legal situation.

For the 284 workers at the processing center, for the county's bondholders, and for the roughly 900 men currently detained in Chaparral, the New Mexico Supreme Court's answer will carry consequences that no ruling can fully undo. The case is Case No. S-1-SC-41362.

This article draws on documents obtained through an Inspection of Public Records Act request to Otero County Attorney R.B. Nichols, reporting from New Mexico Conservative News and Alamogordo Town News, and analysis published by the ACLU of New Mexico and is a  summarized as an analysis before the state Supreme Court by Journalist Chris Edwards 2nd Life Media. 

Here are the source links referenced in this article:

Otero County Legal Filing & Coverage

• Otero County Attorney Nichols' Supreme Court Response (Full Story): https://newmexicoconservativenews.com/2026/04/09/otero-county-attorney-nichols-to-state-supreme-court-ag-torrez-manufactured-a-crisis-that-didnt-exist-eighteen-years-of-state-silence-proves-it/
• Otero County Full Response Brief & Exhibits Filed with NM Supreme Court: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1METVaAxJHhgq7dtzQdSKRP3lvtosyIgB/view

ACLU of New Mexico

• Otero County Claims ICE Facility Can't Be Closed Due to Bond Debt. Experts Disagree: https://www.aclu-nm.org/news/otero-county-claims-ice-facility-cant-be-closed-due-bond-debt-experts-disagree/

New Mexico Supreme Court Case

• Case No. S-1-SC-41362 — New Mexico Supreme Court

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