ICE: Duke City jail won't be used

Immigration agency says detainees will be sent to El Paso or Otero County

Kate Nash | The New Mexican

3/31/2008 - 4/1/08

More than eight months after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials removed 600 detainees from an Albuquerque jail, they say they won't house immigrants there again.

The federal immigration agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, says it has enough space elsewhere for detainees arrested in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas.

A majority of the immigrants who would have gone to the Regional Correctional Center in Albuquerque will be housed in El Paso, said Leticia Zamarripa, an ICE spokeswoman. The agency also can house detainees at other regional facilities if it needs to, including a to-be-opened immigrant processing center in Otero County.

The move means family members of immigrants who are detained will have to travel farther to visit their relatives.

"Certainly having them far away is going to be incredibly difficult for families," said Marcela Díaz, director of the Santa Fe immigrant-advocate group Somos Un Pueblo Unido.

ICE was housing hundreds of detainees awaiting deportation at the RCC. That facility faced allegations by immigrant lawyers — and criticism by a federal judge — of subpar conditions. Complaints included sweltering heat inside, frozen food and poor medical attention.

After the agency yanked all of its inmates last summer, an ICE official said he had "serious doubts" about the ability of Cornell Cos. Inc., which runs the jail, to provide a safe environment for detainees.

Cornell officials say they've worked hard to improve the facility and meet ICE's requirements. The company will continue looking for other customers for the 993-bed facility in downtown Albuquerque, which it leases from Bernalillo County. The U.S. Marshals Office currently houses detainees at the jail.

"We remain in ongoing discussions with the U.S. Marshals, the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee and Bernalillo County, who holds the intergovernmental service agreement with the customer. At present, we expect to continue to operate and market the facility," Cornell CEO, chairman and president James Hyman said in a statement about the company's quarterly earnings report. He also said the company disputes the fact that ICE can change its decision about keeping detainees at the facility without proper notice and a change in contract.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog, Green Chile Chatter, at www.sfnewmexican.com.