Alamogordo, NM (KKOB) – The state attorney general has ruled that the emergency meeting held by Otero County Commissioners on March 13 to sign a new 5-year contract with ICE to keep open an immigration detention center located in Chaparral, was an invalid meeting. The meeting took plance with less than 72 hours notice as required by law and a day after a regular meeting was held in Alamogordo. Otero County Attorney R.B Nichols said the meeting was valid under the state’s Open Meetings Act because without a contract, the county would be unable to repay millions in revenue bonds that funded the construction of the detention center therefore it was a financial emergency. The new contract between Otero County and ICE was supposed to take effect today. The state ordered the county to provide information over the meeting and how it will comply with the AG’s decision.
