State should protect the dignity of immigrants

After reading the latest report from the Humanitarian Outreach for Migrant Emotional Health, I am certain that the truth has been laid bare: The Torrance County Detention Facility is a blight on the very notion of human rights, a place where conditions have sunk below the lowest standards of decency. The HOME report is not just an indictment of a broken system, it’s a scathing exposé of the psychological torment being inflicted by Immigration Customs and Enforcement and CoreCivic upon those who have already endured unspeakable horrors.

Let’s call it what it is: psychological abuse — a systematic dismantling of a person’s mental and emotional well-being. The clinicians and mental health professionals behind this report have done more than just document the suffering; they have given us a glimpse into the lives of ten individuals, each with a story of escape from violence, each with trauma that remains unaddressed and is only compounded by the inhumane conditions of their detention.

These are individuals seeking asylum, which is their legal right. They have fled to the U.S. with the hope of safety and protection, yet what they have found is an environment that perpetuates the cycle of trauma. The report lays bare the stark reality: that these individuals are being subjected to punitive solitary confinement, deprived of basic necessities like drinking water and forced to endure the uncertainties of indefinite detention. It’s a reality where the very individuals tasked with their oversight are feared, where the needs of patients are outright dismissed, and where dehumanization, racism and discrimination are rampant.

This isn’t just a failure of one facility, it’s symptomatic of a larger systemic issue that continues to go unaddressed. How many more reports do we need? How many more lives need to be shattered before those in power put an end to this travesty?

In the 2024 New Mexico legislative session, a glaring opportunity was presented before our elected officials — an opportunity to take a definitive stand against the inhumane treatment of migrants by supporting Senate Bill 145. This pivotal piece of legislation was designed to halt the practice of detaining individuals for civil immigration violations. And yet, with a callous disregard for justice and the well-being of migrant people, New Mexico legislators chose to perpetuate a legacy of indifference, turning a blind eye to the plight of those who look to them for protection.

This pattern of neglect is a betrayal of New Mexican values. This is a matter of accountability, where those in positions of power must answer for their actions — or, in this case, their inaction. We demand that the rights and dignity of migrants be respected and protected.