Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has announced plans to call the legislature back for a special session in the next several weeks.
One idea being discussed is to stop private prisons that make money from deporting people, re-upping a proposal that narrowly failed in February.
New Mexico has long been complicit in and profited from cruel federal programs that separate children from their families and incarcerate people seeking asylum in the US.
That includes local governments like Torrance, Otero, and Cibola counties that work with private prison operators responsible for dangerous and inhumane conditions.
Some wealthy individuals have taken things a step further, turning it into an opportunity to amass a huge fortune. One of the biggest players who stands to benefit from a newly approved Republican budget with $75B for mass deportation is Allen Weh, the CEO of CSI Aviation.
Weh, a former chair of the NM Republican Party, continues to dominate the party’s activities in the state, and has close ties to both the Trump regime and private prison industry.
Before we break down the details, here’s the punchline: call your state legislator and tell them it’s time for the state to ban federal immigration detention centers in New Mexico.
Connections with Trump and private prison operators
Weh is one of the wealthiest Republican donors in New Mexico. He gave more than $204K to Trump’s re-election last year, a few months before receiving a no bid contract worth hundreds of millions to run deportation flights for ICE, according to Project on Government Oversight (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.
This year’s no bid contract connects 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. They are raking in cash from their current contract worth up to $334 million, with the most recent payout of $65 million on July 7th.
The company’s contracts with ICE may 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 last year with CSI Aviation to carry out deportation flights. That contract is expected 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 Debbie Maestas Weh 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.
With a Republican budget in place that gives ICE more money than most of the world’s militaries, New Mexico’s troubled history with private prisons is again center stage. Whether the state will continue to incentivize profiteering and cruelty remains to be seen.
Take Action: Call your state legislator and tell them it’s time for the state to ban federal immigration detention centers in New Mexico. The upcoming special legislative session is not only the right time, it’s well past time.