In the wake of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement getting $45 billion from Congress to increase its detention capacity, six facilities in Colorado have made the list for consideration.
Yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Colorado posted a list of potential sites they obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
According to the organizations, the six Colorado facilities are all privately owned and are currently not in operation:
- Huerfano County Correctional Center in Walsenburg
- Cheyenne Mountain Center in Colorado Springs
- Hudson Correctional Facility in Hudson
- The Baptiste Migrant Detention Facility in La Junta
- The Colorado Springs Migrant Detention Facility in Colorado Springs
- A ‘soft-sided’ detention facility in Walsenburg, the exact location unclear.
In a statement included with the list of proposed facilities, ACLU’s National Prison Project senior staff attorney Eunice Cho said ICE’s planned expansion of detention centers will only endanger the lives of immigrants held in dangerous and inhumane conditions.
“ICE’s ability to expand immigration detention has been supercharged by recent congressional appropriations, placing immigrants in our communities at even greater risk,” Cho said.
CPR News reached out to ICE about the list of proposed sites but did not receive a response.
CPR previously reported that Huerfano County Correctional Center, which closed in 2010, and Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington were both under consideration by ICE. Both are owned by CoreCivic, which already has contracts with ICE to manage detention facilities in multiple states.
The ACLU documents reveal that another option in Huerfano County would be to use a temporary facility provided by Apex Sites. According to its website, the Texas-based company specializes in developing soft-sided facilities that can house up to 10,000 people for state and federal entities.
Huerfano County, which has one of the worst unemployment rates in the state, stands to gain from ICE bringing in business. Rumors that ICE might be interested in reopening the Huerfano County Correctional Center were sparked after Inauguration Day, according to the Huerfano World Journal.
The Cheyenne Mountain Center closed in 2020 after GEO Group’s services contract with the Colorado Department of Corrections to manage the facility expired. At the time, CDOC director Dean Williams said he wasn’t surprised by the move, citing high turnover rate and chronic understaffing, and GEO Group losing money. The staffing issues resulted in the prison losing its license for rehabilitation programs.
GEO Group, who also runs the Aurora ICE Processing Center, still owns the Cheyenne Mountain Center. The company was formerly in a lease agreement with Hudson Correctional Facility in Weld County. The facility is owned by Chicago-based real estate investment trust Highland REIT. It was used to house Alaska state prisoners before its closure in 2014.
The Bapiste Group has two Colorado facilities on the list. The Bapiste Migrant Detention Facility, a former Boys’ Ranch Facility in Otero County, was last used in 2023. The Colorado Springs Migrant Detention Facility is a former skilled nursing facility. The Bapiste Group has operated other facilities in the country. Their license was suspended in Tennessee after workers were arrested on sexual battery and child abuse charges at a migrant facility.
With the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, Republicans aim to ‘supercharge’ immigration enforcement. The American Immigration Council estimates the money allocated is enough to increase ICE capacity to 116,000 beds, up from about 41,000 currently. Idle facilities like the six in Colorado have been looked at as possible solutions. Since the bill’s passage, stocks for GEO Group and CORECivic have risen.
Governor Jared Polis’ office said in a statement that ICE hadn’t shared its plans for detention expansion.
“Governor Polis continues to call on ICE to be more transparent about their operations in our state, including with a potential expansion, but they have not shared any details of plans to expand with the Governor’s Office,” the statement read. “He urges them to re-focus on apprehending violent criminals rather than people with no criminal record who contribute to our communities.”
In 2023, Colorado joined a list of states that banned local jails and prisons from partnering with ICE to hold immigration detainees. But that policy only applies to publicly owned facilities, not private ones.
