Inhumane conditions, inadequate medical care, due process violations, and retaliation rampant at the facility

September 16, 2024, Albuquerque, New Mexico — Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, and the Center for Constitutional Rights submitted a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to the federal district court of New Mexico on Friday on behalf of four Venezuelan migrants who face indefinite detention in ICE custody at the Otero Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico. 

A petition for a writ of habeas corpus allows people who have been detained to challenge the legality of their confinement. In this case, the petitioners have been detained at Otero between nine and 11.5 months, and all have been detained for over six months since they have been ordered removed from the United States. As bilateral relations between the U.S. and Venezuela deteriorate, the petitioners allege that their prolonged and indefinite detention violates the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The petition can be viewed here.

In late January 2024, the Venezuelan government announced that it would halt repatriation flights from the U.S. as of February 13, 2024, in response to the economic sanctions that the United States re-imposed on Venezuela after previously lifting them in 2023. As of March 2024, approximately 4,379 Venezuelans were in ICE custody, more than any other nationality besides Mexican. The petitioners are asking for their immediate release from ICE custody. 

Since its opening in 2008, Otero has subjected thousands of asylum seekers to inhumane conditions, inadequate medical care, and due process violations. Most recently, five Venezuelan men, including one of the men named in the habeas petition, were put in solitary confinement in retaliation for coordinating a hunger strike after their deportation officers pressured them to agree to be removed to Mexico.  

"My experience [at Otero] has been very bad. In this detention center I feel like a prisoner. For me to be detained here for so long is not fair. I should be given the opportunity to get out and show that I am a family man, not a criminal like they [ICE] think I am,” said Leonel, one of the petitioners detained in Otero County Processing Center. “That is why I would like to submit this petition, because there are many of us here who are family men and we suffer.” 

“Once again, the Otero County Processing Center is violating the rights of those imprisoned in the facility. In the eight months since Venezuela has stopped repatriation flights from the U.S., we have seen ICE increasingly rely on inhumane practices against Venezuelan migrants in Otero, including subjecting them to solitary confinement without proper process and arbitrarily denying their release from custody,” said Zoe Bowman, Supervising Attorney with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. “We urge that ICE release our clients from custody to prevent further needless and indefinite suffering.” 

“Detaining people for prolonged periods without any meaningful recourse—especially after they have every reason to believe they should be released—not only violates their constitutional rights but inflicts severe psychological and physical harm,” said Rebecca Sheff, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico. “For years, documented abuses at this facility have gone unaddressed. It is long overdue for Otero County to sever its contract with ICE. No one should endure such indefinite, unjust detention—here in New Mexico or anywhere in the country.”

“As we grapple with the detrimental consequences of U.S. foreign policy, it is unconscionable that our government treats human beings who are courageously seeking safety as undeserving of dignity and protection,” said Mikaila Hernández, attorney and Bertha Justice Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “ICE detention centers – and especially Otero County Processing Center – have a well-documented track record of ruthlessly stripping people of their humanity simply for being from a country that government officials do not like. And here, our clients are facing indefinite incarceration because U.S. foreign policy is impeding their deportations. This violates the U.S. Constitution. It is time to end the funding of these rampant human rights violations and abolish the caging of migrants.”

For more information visit the Center for Constitutional Rights case page.