U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operates a detention center in Torrance County, New Mexico that is notorious for its horrendous and unsafe conditions. Our Immigration Justice Campaign has worked to advocate for the release of people held in the facility. 

Now, the spotlight on the Torrance facility has attracted the attention of government watchdogs—and we have stunning news.  

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) paid a surprise visit to Torrance in February. Based on what they found, the OIG demanded that ICE immediately stop holding people at the facility, “unless and until the facility ensures adequate staffing and appropriate living conditions.” 

Specifically, the OIG called out:

• Critical staffing shortages. 
   
• Unsanitary conditions. 53% of all cells at the facility suffered from plumbing issues. 
   
• Security lapses. There were not enough officers to ensure safe conditions. 
   
• A non-functioning moldy sink and clogged toilet full of human waste observed in vacant cells in an occupied housing unit.

It is extraordinary to see the OIG demand that ICE immediately stop holding people at a detention facility. This speaks to the horrific and extreme conditions that ICE and its contractor CoreCivic have been allowed to get away with for far too long at Torrance. 

But the findings themselves are not surprising at all. Cruelty and impunity are a consistent pattern across our immigration detention system. 

Yet even faced with this new report from the OIG, the agency denies that there’s a problem at Torrance and is unlikely to comply with the recommendations. 

ICE has proven that it’s unable to detain people humanely. It’s past time for ICE to close the Torrance facility and release—not transfer—the people it’s holding there.  

Sincerely,

Jorge Loweree
Policy Director