Geo Group, the private prison company that operates , filed a lawsuit Monday challenging a just-signed state law that requires more regular inspections of detention facilities in Colorado.
The suit, filed in federal court in Denver, seeks to invalidate , which Gov. Jared Polis signed into law last week. The company alleges that only the federal government can dictate how its Aurora detention center is run and that the new law has “the purpose and effect of making it more difficult for federal immigration officers to carry out their responsibilities in Colorado and impose direct burdens and requirements on facilities used in immigration operations.” The company asks a federal judge to strike down the law, and it filed a separate motion seeking to immediately suspend the law, which largely kicked into effect last week.
Advocates have long criticized the conditions at the Aurora facility, and those complaints — alongside concerns that more facilities could open in the state — helped drive HB 1276’s contents. Among other changes, the law requires health officials to inspect the Aurora facility at least every three months to ensure the detention center abides by safety standards related to food and water quality, confinement conditions and medical services.
It requires the facility to give broad access to local officials investigating health outbreaks — a change that comes after Adams County officials admonished Geo for refusing to allow interviews of facility staff during an outbreak investigation earlier this year.
If Geo staff deny inspectors access to the facility, then the state can impose a $50,000 penalty on the company.
Though the 1,530-bed facility typically does hold minor detainees, the new law also prohibits Geo from housing children with unrelated adults, and it requires that the facility have medical and mental health professionals on site at all times.
Geo Group representatives did not immediately respond to an email sent early Monday evening. In its lawsuit, the company argued that it was already subject to congressionally imposed regulations and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which contracted with Geo to run the Aurora center, has ultimate authority over the facility’s access.
In an argument that has proven successful in other states where lawmakers have sought to regulate ICE activity, Geo also argued that the law discriminates against both the company and the federal government by applying standards to detention centers that the state does not levy against other prisons.
“Frequent and unpredictable inspections alone will increase the cost to, and administrative burden on, GEO and the federal government,” the company wrote.
In a statement, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said there were “disturbing reports about unhealthy living conditions” at the Aurora facility. A University of Utah student briefly detained there last year said she was served soggy and moldy food. Last summer, the air conditioning broke or was turned up too high, according to court filings. In a lawsuit filed against ICE last year, another former detainee said he was served spoiled milk.
Lawmakers had previously given state health officials the authority to conduct visits to the facility, and the Adams County Health Department launched an investigation into the facility earlier this year after immigrant advocates alleged that gastrointestinal illness was rampant. The health agency later said that Geo Group refused to allow inspectors to interview facility staff.
“Meeting basic health and safety requirements and being transparent about facility conditions are necessary for the humane treatment of immigrants who are going through civil immigration proceedings,” Weiser wrote.
