A government contractor announced Monday it has entered into a five-year agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to open a new federal immigration processing center northeast of Denver in Hudson.
The facility will be located in a former prison complex that has sat empty since 2014. The complex is owned by a real estate investment trust, Highlands REIT, and was opened in the 2000s. It was known as the Hudson Correctional Facility but will now be renamed the Big Horn Facility.
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The acquisition will add capacity beyond the Aurora ICE detention facility, also operated by the GEO Group. That facility can house over 1,500 people. This center will be intended for 1,200 more.
“We expect that our company-leased Big Horn Facility in Colorado will play an important role in helping meet the need for increased federal immigration processing center bedspace,” said the GEO Group’s Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, George C. Zoley.
The Town of Hudson released a statement soon after the announcement, pointing out that it does not have approval authority over federal immigration detention operations at the private facility. The town says it is currently taking proactive steps to prepare for potential impacts. Those include emergency response readiness and monitoring water and wastewater capacity, as well as transportation and roadway impacts.
Town leaders did not respond to requests for comment on the development.
There was, however, criticism of the deal among legal and immigrant advocates.
“ICE’s covert opening of the Hudson facility is another disgraceful and shameful example of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant fanaticism,” said Olivia Mendoza, the ACLU of Colorado’s executive director.
The ACLU has sought to request government information about plans for opening a center.
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Protesters showed up outside the old facility in January when plans were taking shape. They also brought their opposition to the town council at the time.
“We have fought tooth and nail over the last year through public records litigation to get basic information about ICE’s expansion plan, but ICE has tried to hide those plans behind heavily redacted documents at every turn,” said Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado’s legal director.
CBS Colorado cameras have not been allowed inside the center in Aurora since 2019.
In a statement to CBS Colorado, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said, in part:
“ICE can confirm the award of a contract to The GEO Group for detention services at the Big Horn Facility in Hudson, Colorado. This additional detention capacity strengthens ICE’s ability to implement the Administration’s immigration enforcement priorities, restore integrity to the nation’s immigration system, and protect public safety.
It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health services as available, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. For many illegal aliens, this is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives.”
The offices of Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, whose district covers the area, declined comment beyond saying, “We support ICE.”
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Dana Miller, lead for the Denver Immigrant Partnership Team, which advocates on behalf of immigrants’ rights, said, “I think the entire system across the country of detaining people in cruel and inhumane ways is pretty disturbing. Especially because so many of the people that are being held in detention are there without due process. They’re there illegally. And they’re getting transferred from detention center to detention center across the country so their families can’t find them, so their legal help can’t find them.”
“We denounce this profit-motivated contract that will deeply harm immigrant communities in Colorado and our state as a whole,” stated Mekela Goehring, executive director of Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network
In town, some people declined to share opinions about the development. Longtime residents Mick and Cheryl DiPaolo had questions, but also were generally supportive.
“I’m okay with it. Like I said, there are other things in the area that I don’t approve,” said Mick DiPaolo.
He says his main concerns would be about the timeline for opening the new facility and the treatment of the detainees.
“I think somebody should be able to go in there, like news people go in there and see what it’s like inside. But I want them to show it whether it’s bad or good. Because I worry that they’ll just show the bad; they won’t show the good,” said Cheryl DiPaolo.
