ACLU of New Mexico Files FOIA Suit Against ICE Over CoreCivic Sole-Source Contracts at Torrance and Cibola Detention Facilities

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico on Oct. 16, 2026, announced it had filed a federal lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement over outstanding public records requests about detention contracts in the state. ACLU-NM said it filed the suit on behalf of the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, whose FOIA requests seek ICE’s contracting agreements with CoreCivic, which runs the Torrance County and Cibola County facilities. ACLU staff attorney Emma O’Sullivan said she is concerned that ICE “just replaced one underhanded contract with another.” DHS said it is reviewing the lawsuit and will respond as appropriate.

In March, the ACLU noted, ICE announced non-competitive “sole source” direct contracts with CoreCivic in both counties to continue detaining immigrants there, and its news release said ICE sidestepped federal requirements that generally require competitive bidding and a review of contractors’ safety records. The suit follows the state’s Immigrant Safety Act, which bars local governments from signing detention contracts with ICE; the Justice Department sued the state over the law in May and that case remains pending. The records requested would test the sole-source mechanism documented in 2026-05-01–corecivic-direct-federal-contract-torrance-cibola-bypasses-nm-hb9. The reporting is from one outlet relaying an ACLU release; the complaint itself was not fetched.