Federal judge blocks Colorado law requiring health inspections of immigrant detention centers
A federal judge in Denver has blocked parts of a new Colorado state law requiring health and safety inspections of centers that detain immigrants.
The GEO Group, which operates the immigrant processing center in Aurora for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, filed a lawsuit seeking to block implementation of HB26-1276, signed into law in June.
Judge Daniel Domenico found that the law singled The GEO Group out as a federal contractor and required it "to violate its contract with the federal government, both grounds for preemption," stating, "Here, GEO has shown that it is singled out for a special bill that applies to no other facility. That other facilities might have some similar regulatory burdens does not change the fact that none of them are required to comply with HB 1276."
"At least some of the burdens of this bill are unique. The requirement of a certain number of unannounced visits, for example, does not appear elsewhere," Domenico wrote. "And the state acknowledges that the penalty scheme is not imposed on other facilities."
State Rep. Lorena Garcia, who represents parts of Adams County, co-sponsored the Colorado law. In July she told CBS Colorado, "We have seen over and over and over again a lack of care of the people who are being held in GEO centers. We have seen repeated attempts from our departments of health to go and investigate, and they're being refused entry."
On Wednesday Attorney General Phil Weiser filed a lawsuit in Adams County District Court asking a judge to compel GEO to comply with a public health order, after tuberculosis was found at the facility in June.
Thursday, Weiser said, "Today's ruling granted the GEO Group a narrow, temporary injunction against one provision of a new 2026 law-not the broad relief it sought-and leaves Colorado's existing public health and safety authority intact. Separately, our lawsuit filed yesterday seeks to enforce that existing authority and require GEO to cooperate with the state's investigation into tuberculosis at the Aurora facility, and we will continue using every available tool to protect the health and safety of Coloradans."
CBS Colorado has reached out to GEO Group for a response and will update this story as soon as one is received.
