ESTANCIA, N.M. — For years, migrants seeking asylum have been bussed into and placed at the Torrance County Detention Facility – a migrant facility plagued with lawsuits over poor conditions.

“People are not given access to asylum at Torrance and all throughout the process they are treated with incredible disrespect. They are starving. People are losing weight, people have been separated from their families at the border to be subjected to incredible harm,” said Sophia Genovese, the managing attorney at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center.

Community advocates held a day of action in Estancia Wednesday to try and shut down the facility. The contract between Torrance County Detention Facility and ICE ends on May 14, 2024.

‘We are calling on Torrance County to elect not to renew the contract so that we are no longer detaining asylum seekers,” Genovese said.

More than a dozen people signed up for public comment to try and stop the county from renewing their contract with ICE.

“More than one client has told us they don’t know how they will make it through the day,” said one of the speakers.

“My family and I hoped for safety and protection and ended up in a place devoid of humanity and respect for human rights,” said another speaker on behalf of a migrant in the facility.

“The food we are told to prepare is dirty, the lettuce is rotted, bugs in it,” said another.

After the county commissioners’ meeting, advocates made their way to the detention center for a car rally.

“The county has about another month to decide whether they will renew the contract and we really hope that the county commission will stand up for human rights and not renew this contract and figure out something else to do for this facility and find other jobs to support Torrance County residents because the jail isn’t it,” Genovese said.