Public defender: Masked ICE grab at Otero County courthouse came moments after case was dismissed

ALAMOGORDO — Masked men who said they were ICE agents grabbed a man at the Otero County District Courthouse on Sept. 22, 2026 moments after a judge dismissed the criminal case he had come to court to fight, according to the top public defender for the 12th Judicial District. 

Dayna Louise Jones, the district's District Defender with the Law Office of the Public Defender, described the Sept. 22, 2026 incident in a Thursday email to the 12th Judicial District's Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. She wrote that people present told her office the detention "appeared to be coordinated and preplanned with local entities." 

"The courthouse should be a safe place for individuals who are seeing their cases through to their resolutions," Jones wrote.

"Abducted from the courthouse"

Jones wrote that the man, a client of her office, was "exercising his right to a jury trial" when he was taken immediately after his case was dismissed. His children, who were with him, described the men as wearing masks and traveling in an unmarked vehicle, according to the email.

The man has not been publicly identified. 

Jones acknowledged that she is not an immigration lawyer and said her aim was not to debate immigration policy. Her concern, she wrote, is the "chilling effect" on people who come to court because they are required to.

She pointed to Chaparral, a community near the border where she said many residents are undocumented. She wrote that she has interviewed alleged victims at the Chaparral fire station because they cannot pass the Border Patrol checkpoint to reach her office.

"Imagine if an alleged victim were taken from ICE immediately after their testimony in a jury trial," she wrote. Such a feeling, she added, "should not change because the person pictured is a defendant whose case has just been dismissed."

The man's family is "extremely upset, traumatized, and trying to figure out what happened to their loved one," Jones wrote. She asked council members to refer any immigration attorneys willing to help them.

State limits on sharing immigration status

Jones cited a 2025 state law on nondisclosure of sensitive personal information, which she said aims to keep state agency employees from disclosing a person's immigration status. 

She noted that the State Ethics Commission has sued New Mexico Probation and Parole under that law, in case D-101-CV-2025-02343. Jones wrote that she has no reason to believe Probation and Parole was involved in the Sept. 22 incident.

She did not say which local entities she believes coordinated with the agents. She wrote that regardless of whether any legal exceptions apply, a person who came to court "was deprived of his liberty immediately upon the actual criminal case against him being dismissed."

New Mexico has also restricted local cooperation with immigration enforcement more broadly. The Immigrant Safety Act, House Bill 9, signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in February, bars state and local public bodies from agreements with ICE for civil immigration detention. It took effect May 20.

Otero County's fight over ICE detention

The incident comes months after the state moved to cut Otero County's own ties to ICE. On April 1, Attorney General Raúl Torrez asked the New Mexico Supreme Court to void the county's agreement to hold ICE detainees at the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, which holds about 900 people at capacity.

The state argued the county lacks authority to detain people for civil immigration violations and never got required approval from the Department of Finance and Administration. County officials have defended the contract as a valid agreement. Ultimately the case was dropped by the AG office.

Chaparral is also the community Jones singled out in her email as home to many undocumented residents who are victims, witnesses and defendants in local cases.

Public Comment from Officials

A request for comment was sent Sunday to the office of Otero County Sheriff David Black and the County CEO, whose deputies provide courthouse security, asking whether the office knew of or assisted in the detention.

A request for comment was also sent Sunday to 12th Judicial District Judge Angie Schneider and the Court Clerk’s Office asking about the court's knowledge of the arrest and its policy on immigration enforcement at the courthouse. [

Jones closed her email by saying she believes no one on the council wants people "to be afraid to come to a criminal court proceeding only because of their nationality or origin."

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