ICE plans to repurpose a Colorado prison into immigrant detention center

The American Civil Liberties Union recently obtained documents detailing plans for a new ICE detention center in Hudson, Colorado. More than 300 pages of heavily redacted records were obtained after the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act suit against Immigrations and Customs Enforcement last September. The Hudson Correctional Facility in Weld County is set to reopen under the private prison company, the GEO Group, as the ‘Big Horn Correctional Facility’. The 1,200-bed prison only operated for five years after its opening in 2009, and its reopening would nearly double ICE’s detention capacity in the state. The only other ICE detention facility in Colorado is in Aurora, and it is also operated by the GEO Group. But the Hudson facility is one of only six potential new sites that ICE is looking to use, including sites in Ignacio and Walsenburg. The lack of transparency in the process has made it difficult for the ACLU to ascertain funding details, and when the facilities might begin operations. One piece of redacted information is how much the GEO Group is under contract for in Hudson.