This story was first published at Colorado Newsline.
DENVER | Reports from oversight visits conducted by U.S. Rep. Jason Crow’s staff show the immigration detention center in Aurora is close to hitting its newly increased population capacity.
About 1,200 people were in custody at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility at the end of September. The facility recently increased its capacity from 1,360 to 1,530 detainees, and while Crow’s office did not get an exact number, ICE staff on Jan. 5 told Crow staff the facility was “slightly below capacity.”
Federal law gives members of Congress the authority to conduct unannounced oversight visits of immigration detention facilities. Crow, an Aurora Democrat, attempted to visit the facility in July but was denied entry, prompting a lawsuit brought by Crow, Rep. Joe Neguse of Lafayette and other members of Congress.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s policy that requires at least a week’s notice for members of Congress to conduct an oversight visit to Department of Homeland Security facilities. But after Minnesota lawmakers were denied access to an ICE facility in Minneapolis Saturday, Democrats asked the judge for an emergency hearing.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem implemented a new policy that requires seven days notice for lawmakers to conduct oversight visits, saying facilities funded through last year’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act do not need to comply with a 2019 appropriations law that allows for unannounced visits at facilities that hold immigrants.
The Jan. 5 report from Crow’s office says the Aurora facility’s segregated transgender pods were consolidated into one pod, which holds “a few transgender detainees.” Other transgender individuals were moved to the general population, the report says. It also says “grandfathered” transgender detainees continue to receive gender-affirming medical care at the facility.
Much of the information Crow’s office asked of ICE was not made available, and facility staff redirected his team to the ICE Office of Congressional Relations.
ICE did not respond to a request for information on the Aurora facility’s population, including the care available for transgender individuals.
The Aurora facility, privately run by The GEO Group for ICE, is the only ICE detention center in Colorado. Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado show that the Trump administration contracted with The GEO Group in December to run another ICE detention center out of a dormant prison in Hudson.
Crow’s staff and Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper’s staff conducted a seperate visit to the Aurora facility in December.
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