Republican leaders of the New Mexico House of Representatives lambasted a new civil rights report calling for the closure of the state's three immigrant detention facilities.

"The report is not a serious fact-finding effort — it is a political document dressed up as research," House Minority Leader Gail Armstrong of Magdalena, House Whip Alan Martinez of Bernalillo and caucus Chair Rebecca Dow of Truth or Consequences wrote Friday in a letter to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

"Its flawed methodology, one-sided evidence base, and sweeping recommendations reveal an agenda, not an objective analysis," they wrote.

The letter comes after the commission's New Mexico Advisory Committee voted 7-2 in July to recommend closing the detention facilities after looking into allegations of wro

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