CoreCivic declines questions about a direct ICE contract
CoreCivicA CoreCivic spokesperson, responding to the Santa Fe New Mexican
A CoreCivic spokesperson declined to answer the Santa Fe New Mexican's questions about a direct ICE contract for the Torrance and Cibola facilities, said the company's priority is caring for people in its facilities respectfully and humanely, and referred further questions to ICE.
“A spokesperson for CoreCivic declined to answer questions Tuesday, stating only, “Our priority is to continue caring for each person in our facilities respectfully and humanely,” and directing further questions to ICE.”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
ICE gives CoreCivic a no-bid contract to keep two New Mexico detention centers open; advocates sue for the records
After New Mexico barred counties from detention agreements with ICE, the agency gave CoreCivic a sole-source contract to keep holding immigrants at the Torrance County Detention Facility and the Cibola County Correctional Center. Immigrant legal advocates say ICE bypassed competitive bidding and have sued for the contract records. ICE's notice said CoreCivic was the only operator able to meet its requirements in time.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Report on Torrance and Cibola county officials waiting for ICE and CoreCivic to finalize a direct contract. It reports that CoreCivic declined to answer questions and that ICE did not respond.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Leaders of Torrance and Cibola counties were waiting for ICE and CoreCivic to finalize a direct contract that would let both CoreCivic-owned detention centers stay open once the Immigrant Safety Act took effect on May 20.
After the quotation
The newspaper reported that ICE did not respond to its questions.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is ICE's sole-source contract with CoreCivic to keep detaining immigrants at the Torrance and Cibola facilities. CoreCivic declined to answer questions about the contract and referred them to ICE, offering only a general statement about its care of detainees, so we labeled it Explicitly declined. The statement does not take up the contract or how it was awarded, so Defended or excused does not fit.
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More from this case
Read the full caseImmigrant law center says ICE is trying to evade New Mexico's law
New Mexico Immigrant Law Center
“Our communities spoke up and passed the Immigrant Safety Act to say that we refuse to be complicit in locking up immigrants, yet ICE is doing everything in its power to retain and expand Trump’s cruel detention and deportation machine in our state We’re requesting these documents because New Mexicans deserve to know why ICE and the Trump administration are attempting to evade our laws while they continue to subject people to inhumane detention.”Read statement
ACLU of New Mexico says ICE replaced one underhanded contract with another
ACLU of New Mexico
“We’re concerned that ICE just replaced one underhanded contract with another The state made it clear with the passage of the Immigrant Safety Act that New Mexico stands against the mistreatment and abuse of people in these detention facilities. ICE cannot continue to operate here without accountability.”Read statement
Cibola County manager says the county is relieved by ICE's direct contract with CoreCivic
Cibola County
“The jobs won’t go, and we’re very relieved — so relieved I was kind of concerned, because in state government procurement would take longer. They did it very quickly, and I don’t know how they did it, but they’re doing a federal procurement, not state”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "CoreCivic declines questions about a direct ICE contract". First published: 2026-10-20. Last updated: 2026-10-20. https://disputeindex.com/events/6124-a-corecivic-spokesperson-declined-to-answer-the-santa