The New Mexico legislature has taken a historic step: blocking state and local governments from taking part in an aggressive and violent mass deportation agenda.
HB 9 The Immigrant Safety Act lays out specific steps to protect our state’s economy and families, including:
- Stops the use of public land for immigration detention.
- Bans 287(g) agreements that turn local law enforcement into immigration agents.
- Prohibits state/local governments from entering into agreements to detain individuals for civil immigration violations (notably, Torrance, Otero, and Cibola counties, who work with private prison operators responsible for dangerous and inhumane conditions).
While this is a much needed change, it’s also worth asking: who in NM was – and still is – making all that money off of mass deportation?
The biggest player to benefit from a Republican budget with $75B to fuel mass deportation is Allen Weh, the CEO of Albuquerque-based CSI Aviation.
In the last two decades, the company made over a billion dollars on deportation flights. But with Trump’s return to the White House, their revenue turned from a creek into a raging river of profit.
Last year, the company saw its’ revenues rise by 238% compared to the year before, going from $363.9 million to $1.23 billion, according to research from Project on Government Oversight (POGO). CSI Aviation is the #1 ICE contractor, almost half a billion dollars ahead of GEO Group, the private prison operator in the #2 position.
Connections with Trump and private prison operators
Weh is a former Republican Party Chair and candidate for governor and US Senate. He is also the most well connected and wealthy GOP donor in New Mexico by far.
He gave more than $204K to Trump’s re-election in 2024, a few months before receiving a no bid contract worth hundreds of millions to run deportation flights for ICE, according POGO.
He also hosted Trump’s Halloween eve presidential rally at his airplane hangar, just days before the 2024 election. The exact cost of the rally is unknown, although Trump still owes close to $500K to the City of Albuquerque for his previous visit. According to data analysis by POGO, Weh, his daughter, and his wife have also collectively given about $840,000 to Trump-aligned political action committees.
Last year’s no bid contract links back to a longer history of federal contracting. CSI Aviation has been a major beneficiary of ICE contracts, receiving at least $1.6 billion in federal funding since 2005.
The company’s contracts with ICE also raise potential questions about waste and abuse. For example, an El Paso Times investigation found it costs up to $4K per person to run flights from El Paso to Guatemala. A competitor of CSI Aviation also filed a lawsuit over what it called an “absurdly high” ICE contract bid, noting that it could lead to overcharging taxpayers up to $500 million for flights.
Another component is the relationship between CSI Aviation and the private prison industry. The company works with a network of subcontractors, including GEO Group, the operator of prisons in Lea County and Guadalupe County. Their subsidiary GEO Transport, Inc. was awarded a five-year contract in 2024 with CSI Aviation to carry out deportation flights. That contract was projected to generate about $25 million in annual revenue.
Weh’s history with the Republican Party of New Mexico
While Weh has received contracts under multiple presidential administrations, it’s worth noting that he has a long history of involvement with the Republican Party.
He served as the chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party and was the GOP’s nominee for an open U.S. Senate seat in 2014. The current party chair is Amy Barela, who was elected Otero County Commissioner in 2022, and who Weh worked with on last year’s RNC Platform Committee.
In addition to Weh’s influence on the party, his daughter Deborah “Debbie” Weh Maestas also served as one of the fake electors during Trump’s 2020 election loss and subsequent election denial. The party then re-nominated her as an elector in 2024.
Over the last 20+ years, Weh has also forged ties with local dealmaker and multiple times failed candidate Darren White, who ran for Mayor of Albuquerque in Fall 2025.
In 2004, White and Weh (GOP chair at the time) were part of a group of NM Republicans who pressured then US Attorney David Iglesias for a voter fraud investigation. When they did not like the results it became a contributing factor to White advocating for Iglesias’ politically motivated firing.
The Big Picture
With a Republican budget in place that gives ICE more money than most of the world’s militaries, New Mexico’s troubled history with mass deportation is again center stage.
Despite polling and research consistently showing Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda is deeply unpopular with the vast majority of Americans – including Hispanic/Latino communities – ICE is violating our human rights and safety on a daily basis.
It’s not clear what will happen next, but with billions on the line, one thing seems clear for now: Allen Weh will continue to enrich himself at the expense of taxpayers.
This article was originally published on July 31, 2025 and updated on March 14, 2026.