Colorado AG Weiser sues ICE contractor GEO over "stonewalling" on public health order
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is suing the private prison company GEO, which operates the Aurora ICE Processing Center, for noncompliance with a state public health order.
Weiser charged Wednesday it is unlawful to willfully disregard the provisions of a public health order. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued the order last week after it said the GEO Group failed to comply with an order issued by the Adams County Health Department in June. Adams County and ICE confirmed a detainee had a confirmed case of tuberculosis, but ICE said in statements the detainee was treated and then deported.
GEO maintains that it is working with the ICE Health Service Corps and the Centers for Disease Control to mitigate the risk of disease, and that there are currently no cases of TB at the center. GEO, which is headquartered in Florida, operates immigrant detention centers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and was recently contracted to open a new ICE detention center in Hudson, Colorado.
Also on Wednesday, Colorado Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to GEO demanding the ICE contractor comply with the state and county orders, pointing out that the company has traditionally been cooperative with public health officials, "The refusal to cooperate fully with requests from ACHD, CDPHE, and Denver Health belies a history of cooperation in which the facility's medical team has previously met regularly with ACHD and Denver Health to share relevant epidemiological and medical information, and to coordinate access when needed."
Congressman Jason Crow's staff say they visited the detention center last Friday and that eight people were being monitored in the medical section, but ICE and GEO would not elaborate on why.
CBS Colorado reached out to GEO for a response to Wednesday's lawsuit and will update this story when a response is received.
On Monday, the company said in a statement, "Over the past two months, GEO has engaged repeatedly with the Adams County Health Department and other Colorado officials and has provided information to the state as authorized by DHS. DHS and CDC remain actively involved in disease prevention and control measures at AIPC."
A separate lawsuit filed by GEO is currently pending in federal court over the state's new law requiring public health oversight of the company. HB 26-1276 states that any facility that houses or detains non-citizens for civil immigration must submit to annual inspections and examinations. That law is unrelated to the current public health orders.
Governor Polis also issued a statement saying, "Public Health Orders carry the weight of law, and we appreciate the collaboration from Attorney General Weiser's office on this effort. I am hopeful the courts will ensure that local public health officials get the information needed to protect the public health."
