Lawsuit alleges New Mexico guards pepper-sprayed detained asylum seekers

ESTANCIA, New Mexico — One year ago Monday, more than 20 asylum seekers were on a hunger strike, protesting Covid-19 safety conditions at the Torrance County Detention Facility.

According to a new lawsuit from the ACLU of New Mexico and the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, they were all sprayed with pepper spray, held in an enclosed room for several minutes and given little time to clean the spray from their bodies, ABC affiliate KOAT reports.

Jasmine McGee, managing attorney at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center said, “Here they are in this detained setting away from their family in the midst of a Pandemic afraid they are going to contract Covid-19. And what happens is Corecivic retaliates against them and intentionally inflicts harm.”

In a video released by the groups, you see a group of immigrants in a room when guards with face masks and shields walk in, and fog the room with pepper spray. You can hear coughing and cries of pain, even guards are coughing.

CoreCivic, the company that runs the facility, responded to a request for comment in the following statement...

“On Thursday, May 14, at approximately 12:35 p.m. MDT, staff at the Torrance County Detention Facility responded to a protest in a housing unit that was initiated by a group of detainees who became disruptive by refusing to comply with verbal directives provided by staff.

"After attempts by facility staff to deescalate the situation were unsuccessful, the facility staff deployed oleoresin capsicum, commonly referred to as “OC” spray. After the deployment of OC, the detainees became compliant and staff was able to mitigate further risk of injury to both detainees and staff.

"No injuries occurred as a result of this incident to detainees or staff. Medical staff reviewed all individuals involved in the protest.”

Attorneys for the immigrants say the incident happened differently.

“The warden explicitly said you have to stop this or you will pay. And they intentionally went in and inflicted harm with that gas that day. They did not have to use that, they chose to use that,” McGee said.

The ACLU says many still fear retaliation, especially when it comes to the outcomes of their asylum claims and they are afraid of being detained again.

McGee said, “They left them in these conditions with pepper spray soaked clothes, their skin was burning and their eyes were burning. They couldn't breathe in many instances. So they just told us of the horrors of that, how their skin broke out, and how they felt terrorized and traumatized.”

According to the lawsuit, some of the people sprayed had asthma and did suffer problems, including mental health issues later.

Torrence County officials didn't respond to a request for comment, and a response to the allegations has not been filed yet in court.