Otero County attorney says AG manufactured ICE detention case

A 12-minute emergency session in Alamogordo produced a five-year Intergovernmental Service Agreement to keep roughly 900 people at the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, and that rushed vote by commissioners Gerald Matherly, Vickie Marquardt and Amy Barela is now the center of a New Mexico Supreme Court fight. On April 1, Attorney General Raúl Torrez asked the high court for a writ of mandamus to stay and invalidate the IGSA; on April 8 Otero County Attorney R.B. Nichols filed a 29-page response under Case No. S-1-SC-41362 and accused the AG of having "manufactured" the case. ([abqjournal.com](abqjournal.com/news/otero-county-leaders-ink-new-deal-with-ice/3002137))

The New Mexico Department of Justice framed its emergency petition on two legal grounds: that municipalities and counties lack statutory authority to enter civil immigration detention agreements with ICE and that Otero County did not secure required approval from the Department of Finance and Administration, rendering the contract void. The AG’s office argued the agreement flouted newly enacted state law and wrote, "the rule of law requires that all public bodies follow clearly established legal requirements." ([nmdoj.gov](nmdoj.gov/press-release/new-mexico-department-of-justice-files-emergency-petition-to-block-unlawful-immigration-detention-agreement-in-otero-county/))

Nichols’ April 8 filing, submitted with outside counsel Samantha M. Adams and Paul J. Kennedy, pushes back on both the legal theory and the process claims, saying the county acted to avert an imminent fiscal emergency and disputing NMDOJ’s Open Meetings Act analysis. The Otero filing cites the commissioners’ authorization and the county’s decision to retain outside litigation counsel when the contract was renewed on March 13. ([newmexicoconservativenews.com](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/))

The fight unfolded against the backdrop of the Immigrant Safety Act, House Bill 9, signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on February 5, 2026 and scheduled to take effect May 20, 2026, which prohibits public bodies from entering or renewing agreements used to detain people for federal civil immigration violations and requires termination of existing agreements at the earliest permissible date. NMDOJ has said the March 13 renewal looks like the very maneuver HB 9 was designed to prevent. ([sourcenm.com](sourcenm.com/2026/04/01/new-mexico-department-of-justice-urges-state-supreme-court-to-stop-otero-county-ice-contract/))

Otero County officials have emphasized concrete financial stakes: Nichols warned that a lapse in the ICE contract would strip the county of more than $5 million in revenue, imperil bond payments tied to the facility and threaten a county credit rating; reporting places outstanding debt service at $19.3 million with a $5.3 million payment due April 1, 2026, and cites 284 jobs connected to the facility. The center has been operated by Management and Training Corp. since it opened for immigrant detention in 2008. ([abqjournal.com](abqjournal.com/news/ag-sues-to-block-otero-countys-ice-contract/3014749))

Though the litigation is focused on Otero County, its stakes reach across New Mexico’s counties: a Supreme Court ruling that endorses the AG’s emergency authority to invalidate local contracts for lack of statutory power or DFA approval would sharpen state oversight of county agreements and make it easier for the Attorney General to intervene in last-minute local deals. Los Alamos County has not been named in any filings or coverage of this docket, but county officials and local governments statewide will watch closely because the outcome could determine whether counties must budget for state-led litigation, expose local legal reserves to multi-year court fights, and influence public confidence in county decision-making when bond-finance or jobs are invoked. ([nmdoj.gov](nmdoj.gov/press-release/new-mexico-department-of-justice-files-emergency-petition-to-block-unlawful-immigration-detention-agreement-in-otero-county/))

Operations at the Otero County Processing Center continued while the dispute proceeded, County Manager Pamela Heltner confirmed in coverage, and the Supreme Court now faces a compressed schedule to resolve whether the March 13 renewal stands before HB 9 takes effect May 20, 2026. The decision will resolve not only one county’s contract but also the contours of state power to police county-level fiscal and contractual choices. ([abqjournal.com](abqjournal.com/news/ag-sues-to-block-otero-countys-ice-contract/3014749))