AURORA | Democratic Congressperson Jason Crow and three other members of Colorado’s Democratic House delegation said they will conduct a planned inspection tour Monday at the GEO-ICE detention center in Aurora, continuing Crow’s push for congressional oversight of the immigration jail.
The visit comes less than a week after Crow announced he is suing the Trump administration, alleging the Department of Homeland Security unlawfully blocked him from entering the center in violation of a federal law allowing members of Congress to make unannounced inspections.
After Crow’s July 20 inspection attempt, spokespersons for Homeland Security’s ICE division said that the congressperson did not give a required seven-days notice before his visit, and so he was not admitted as a matter of department policy.
“In this case, the congressman’s request did not comply with the mandatory seven-day advance notice requirement,’ ICE officials said in a statement to the Sentinel. “DHS policy clearly requires requests to tour ICE detention facilities be submitted at least seven calendar days in advance for scheduling. This longstanding policy allows for the appropriate coordination necessary to protect facility operations.”
Crow, who represents Aurora and the 6th Congressional District, which includes the Aurora ICE jail, said in his July 30 lawsuit, that the ICE policy violates federal law.
“The Trump Administration attempting to require advance notice for Members of Congress to do their jobs is against the law,” Crow told the Sentinel. “Congress has the authority to make laws — and the law is clear: Members of Congress have the right to immediately access federal facilities to conduct oversight. Try as they might, the Administration cannot ignore the law.”
Crow said the obstanance shown by the Trump administration in Aurora and across the country is especially worrisome giving the troubling past at many of these immigrant holding facilities, especially the GEO facility in Aurora.
Crow’s congressional staff said he will be joined by Reps. Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse and Brittany Pettersen. The time of the inspection was not made public.
“It’s pretty clear this administration is erecting barriers to obstruct congressional oversight, which raises the very obvious question of, why and what are they hiding? What don’t they want people to know? What questions don’t want people to ask?” Crow said Wednesday. “It should worry everybody pretty deeply. It worries me, and it actually makes it even more important that we double down on our job and we get answers.”
Crow is joined in the lawsuit, filed in a DC federal court, by other congressional representatives who said they, too, were denied access to federal detention facilities. Others joining the lawsuit include representatives Joe Neguse, D-CO, Jamie Raskin, D-MD, Bennie Thompson D-MS, Veronica Escobar D-TX, Dan Goldman, D-NY, Adriano Espaillat, D-NY, Jimmy Gomez, D-CA, Norma Torres D-CA, Raul Ruiz, D-CA, Robert Garcia , D-CA, and Lou Correa, D-CA.
Since taking office in 2019, Crow has made oversight of immigration detention centers a signature issue, introducing bipartisan legislation to ensure members of Congress can make unannounced, in-person visits to such facilities.
He has inspected the Aurora center nine times, while his staff has conducted more than 70 additional inspections. Crow also publishes public reports on facility conditions, including health and treatment concerns.
The Aurora facility, operated by the private prison company GEO Group, has faced years of scrutiny from immigrant advocates who have been critical of alleged overcrowding, poor medical care and improper detainee treatment.
“Since President Trump was elected, this administration has denied Members of Congress access to immigration detention facilities and tried to intimidate us from doing our jobs,” Crow said previously “I will not be deterred from conducting lawful oversight, and I’ll continue fighting to hold the administration accountable, including in Congress and the courts.”