Colorado Orders Aurora ICE Facility to Turn Over Tuberculosis Records or Face Legal Action

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued a public health order Thursday demanding that GEO Group, the private company that runs the Aurora ICE Processing Center, turn over tuberculosis records the state says it has been trying to obtain for nearly two months.

The order gives GEO Group until Monday, Aug. 17, to comply. If the company misses that deadline, Attorney General Phil Weiser said his office is prepared to pursue legal action.

"My office is committed to enforcing this public health order and defending Colorado law," Weiser said.

The dispute traces back to late June, when Adams County health officials confirmed a laboratory verified active tuberculosis case connected to someone held at the detention center and issued a county level public health order. An oversight report from U.S. Rep. Jason Crow's office found that 61 people were exposed to the infected person and had to be isolated. GEO Group did not respond to that county order, according to the state.

CDPHE Executive Director Jill Hunsaker Ryan then made a written request for clinical information on July 14. Gov. Jared Polis's office followed up twice more, on July 17 and July 20. The state says none of those requests produced the records or access investigators needed.

"CDPHE's priority is protecting everyone connected to the facility, including detained people, employees, contractors, visitors, and the broader community," Hunsaker Ryan said in a statement. "We sought to complete this routine investigation collaboratively, just as we would with any other facility in Colorado. Because repeated requests and the county's public health order have not produced the necessary information, we are taking this additional step to obtain the information needed to protect public health."

State officials say GEO Group has offered only general statements, including assurances that the infected person was isolated, treated and removed from the country. But CDPHE says it cannot independently confirm any of that without direct access to test results, treatment records, the person's current location, and information needed for contact tracing. The order does not require public health staff to physically enter the facility; it asks for documentation and cooperation with the investigation from outside.

Because GEO Group has not turned over records, the state says it does not know how many detained people, staff or visitors may have been exposed. Health officials have said the risk to the general public remains low, but they say the investigation cannot be closed without the underlying data.

Federal immigration officials have repeatedly denied that there are any active tuberculosis cases at the facility. That claim conflicts with the confirmed case that triggered Adams County's order in June, and it is one of the specific points the state says it cannot verify without GEO's cooperation.

It has been state law for decades that public health officials investigate confirmed active TB cases, regardless of where the exposure occurs. The Aurora facility is Colorado's only immigration detention center and is operated under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Mark Billings, an immigration advocate who regularly visits people detained at the facility, said the tuberculosis case has added to existing anxiety among detainees.

"There's no question that every time something bad happens to anyone inside, it ripples and worries everyone inside," Billings said.

Billings said he hopes GEO Group ultimately cooperates with investigators rather than let the dispute escalate further.

The order lays out the timeline of the state's efforts to compel cooperation, starting with the Adams County order on June 25 and continuing through months of unanswered requests from both county and state health officials. The document states that "GEO's denial of access to the detention facility, the individual with confirmed tuberculosis, the individual's medical information, and other potentially exposed individuals is impeding public health's ability to conduct a needed disease control investigation to ensure that infection control measures are sufficient to prevent further spread of disease."

This is not the state's only legal dispute with GEO Group this year. The company has separately sued Colorado over a new law requiring safety inspections at immigration detention centers, a case that remains pending in court.

Advocacy groups have pressed the state for weeks to escalate its response, arguing that GEO Group's silence left both detained people and the public in the dark about potential exposure. Thursday's order moves the matter from a county level request to a formal state directive backed by the threat of legal enforcement.

GEO Group has not issued a public response to the new order. The Aug. 17 deadline is next: either the company turns over the records, or the attorney general's office moves to enforce the order in court.