AURORA | Nearly a hundred detainees currently housed at the privately-owned immigration detention facility in Aurora have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a weekly accountability report from Congressman Jason Crow’s office.
The report, which was completed April 21, says 96 individuals housed at the facility operated by GEO Group Inc. and one GEO employee have tested positive for the virus.
The housed individuals that have tested positive are “new arrivals from the border”, according to the report. Protocols require that each person being transferred into the facility receive a COVID-19 test.
Because a person can be contagious with the virus and not show symptoms for more than a week, numbers of positive cases may grow.
The facility holds both immigration detainees and U.S. Marshals Service detainees at the north Aurora location. None of the cases are among USMS detainees, according to Crow’s office. The current outbreak is due to transfers into the facility.
Crow has been a vocal opponent of ICE transfers throughout the pandemic. In November, Crow along with two other House members introduced the End Transfers and Detained Immigrants Act, which would prevent ICE from transferring detainees between facilities during the pandemic. No such legislation has been submitted under the Biden administration.
The bill, companion legislation to a Senate bill introduced by Sens. Michael Bennet and Jeff Merkley, also would have required that if physical distancing inside a facility is not possible, individuals shall be released.
“The confirmation of 97 positive COVID-19 cases at GEO is very concerning. We are in close contact with Tri-County Health Department and monitoring the situation. Detention centers like this one are at an extremely high risk for virus spread and we’ll continue to push to ensure proper protocols are in place and followed by both ICE and GEO,” Crow said of the outbreak in a statement to the Sentinel.
ICE officials reported only two cases among local detainees on April 21. To date, there have been 314 cases among housed individuals, 187 positive cases among ICE detainees and 126 cases among GEO employees, according to the Crow report.
The report from Crow’s office reveals 459 detainees are currently at the detention center, and 300 people were brought in this week. 47 left the facility, but it’s unclear how many were released into the community. Crow’s office started the reports in 2019 after concerns of conditions inside the detention center.
Vaccines were slated to be administered to housed individuals at the facility earlier this month, according to a Westword report. The Tri-County Health Department administered the vaccines, but it’s unclear what the vaccination rate inside the facility is and how often doses are administered to new transfers.
An ICE spokesperson did not immediately respond to the Sentinel about the outbreak and vaccination information.
Last month, Univsion first reported that 10 detainees were isolated for possible exposure of COVID-19, but there was no outbreak.