Sixty-eight immigrant detainees held at the Artesia Family Residential Center in New Mexico have been released, and more than a dozen were deported last week, Artesia Mayor Phillip Burch told The Associated Press. 

It is not known whether the 68 people released were granted asylum or have court hearings scheduled.

Burch said a quarantine from an outbreak of chickenpox has been lifted at the center, and new detainees are expected to arrive.

Artesia Detention Center, a temporary site, is the focus of a civil rights lawsuit filed against the U.S. government claiming the center is a deportation mill and detainees lack access to legal representation. The complaint also said bail is set impossibly high and asylum requests are often denied at a much higher rate than for other immigrant groups. In some cases bonds have been set as high at $25,000 to $30,000, five times the national average.

"The government is taking things to an extreme that seems designed to deny people the right to present their case," Laura Lichter, an immigration lawyer, told AP.  

Lichter is one of a dozen of attorneys who provide pro-bono services to the detained families. Nearly 500 people are housed at Artesia.

The Artesia center, like the Karnes County facility in Texas, was opened as federal officials wanted to prevent families from disappearing once they crossed. According to officials, 70 percent of families disappear, failing to turn up for meetings with immigration officials. Lawyer's like Lichter maintain it is the opposite when families are seeking asylum -- they keep appointments.

According to a federal report by the Citizenship and Immigration Service immigration advocates say only 37.8 percent of the Artesia detainees pass their initial interviews for asylum, compared to the 62.7 percent national average.

ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa told AP that 324 detainees have been deported to Central America since the center opened in late June. ICE numbers show 182 were sent to Honduras, 88 were deported to Guatemala, 50 to El Salvador and four to Ecuador.