Colorado’s four Democratic U.S. House members visited the GEO Group-run ICE detention center in Aurora on Monday morning but said many of their questions to staff went unanswered, marking a different experience from previous tours.
“This has been the most difficult visit in terms of getting information, getting answers out of the facility and out of the employees and being obstructed from conducting a full oversight that I’ve had in over six years,” U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, who represents Aurora, told reporters after the visit.
“Transparency and oversight matter a lot, and we will not bow down from our constitutional obligation to do that duty,” he added.
This was Crow’s 10th visit to the facility since 2019.
Crow tried to visit the center in July but was denied entry, leading to a lawsuit with Rep. Joe Neguse and others against a new administration policy requiring at least a week’s notice for oversight visits to Department of Homeland Security facilities.
Federal law allows members of Congress to conduct unannounced oversight visits to immigration detention centers. After Crow’s denied visit, the lawmakers gave notice before this trip.
“I’ve been in a lot of correctional facilities in my life, and if you have to give seven days’ notice, they clean up pretty good,” said U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver. “We were told that the people in there were told to clean up and to spiff up and to make things look good. I’d like to see what happens normally in that facility.”
During the tour, the facility was on lockdown for a population count. The delegation said many questions—including the percentage of detainees with criminal convictions—went unanswered. They also noted that detailed information about detainees’ legal rights was missing from areas where it had been displayed before. However, Rep. Brittany Pettersen said they did see posted information encouraging “self deportation.”
DeGette spoke with Jeanette Vizguerra, an immigrant rights activist detained there since March and a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging her detention. DeGette gave her a physical copy of federal legislation she is sponsoring to grant Vizguerra lawful residency.
“She told me she is not going to stop fighting for immigrants’ rights, and so we’re going to keep up our oversight here,” DeGette said.
Another new Department of Homeland Security policy requires signed privacy notices before members of Congress can meet with detained constituents, which DeGette called “another attempt to stop people from visiting their constituents.”
ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the policies or the visit.
The Aurora facility is the only DHS immigration detention center in Colorado and is privately run by the GEO Group. Documents obtained by the ACLU show the federal government is considering at least six more sites in the state for future detention centers.
Katie is a senior who has been on staff for three years. Her favorite type of stories to write is reviews and features. Katie’s favorite ice cream flavor is strawberry.
Leave a Reply