AURORA | Progressive Aurora City Council members are working to strengthen the city’s oversight of the GEO Group’s ICE immigration detention center in the city.
At the May 5 study session, Councilmember Gianina Horton introduced a resolution that would give city council oversight on contracts with immigration enforcement and detention agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and GEO Group.
She also introduced an ordinance requiring detention facilities in the city to undergo regular city inspections.
City Attorney Pete Schulte said the city doesn’t currently have any contracts or pending contracts with the GEO facility, but any future contracts would be subject to the proposed resolution. Some potential examples for future contracts could be for trash services or snow removal.
Currently, the city manager, not city council, approves contracts under $50,000. Under the proposal, contracts with detention and immigration agencies of any amount would go to council.
“I don’t expect this to happen ever, or rarely if so, but it is a safeguard council can put in place,” Schulte said.
Councilmember Françoise Bergan called the resolution “performative,” saying she didn’t see the need for the change because the city doesn’t have contracts with the federal government and any memoranda of understanding already go before council. She also pointed out that the city does not have authority over federal government property.
Schulte confirmed that the city is limited in the authority it has over federal government property.
Similarly, with the proposed inspection ordinance, Bergan called the effort a waste of time because the city doesn’t have a health department to participate in inspections. Arapahoe, Adams and Douglas counties overlap the city, and each have their own health department. The GEO ICE detention center is in Adams County.
Schulte said the inspection ordinance is a key step to being able to enforce the city’s oversight abilities, but it will likely not automatically grant city officials access to federal facilities.
“We could show up at the door and say ‘hey, we’re here to do an inspection’ and they could say ‘bug off,’ … and we could regroup and figure out what our next steps are,” Schulte said.
Councilmember Curtis Gardner asked what the inspections would cost the city to do and questioned whether there would be redundancy with the county’s health inspections. Staff had not yet determined what the cost for inspections would be.
Councilmember Angela Lawson also raised concerns that lawsuits stemming from the resolution and ordinance would use taxpayer money.
The resolution and ordinance stem from a number of concerns with the health and safety of people detained at the GEO facility. Earlier this year, the Adams County Health Department reported that staff at the GEO facility delayed and denied access to facility employees during an investigation about a potential flu outbreak.
Another report from the Colorado chapter of the American Friends Service Committee alleged the facility doesn’t provide enough food or adequate medical care, according to reporting from Colorado Newsline.