Bennito L. Kelty
Audio By Carbonatix
Colorado wants to force the GEO Group to cough up records amid an investigation into an alleged tuberculosis outbreak at its Aurora immigration detention center.
State Attorney General Phil Weiser filed a lawsuit against the GEO Group in Adams County District Court on Aug. 19. The lawsuit asks the court to issue an injunction to stop the group’s “stonewalling” of a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) investigation into claims that the deadly disease has spread around the facility, according to a press release from Weiser’s office.
The GEO Group, the private company that operates the detention center for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has not complied with two prior orders seeking information about a potential outbreak, according to state officials.
“The GEO Group is endangering Coloradans’ public health by refusing to follow the state health department’s order and by violating Colorado law,” Weiser says in a statement. “We will continue to defend Colorado law and ensure that no company flouts our public health and safety laws.”
The investigation first began on June 25, when Adams County officials learned about a laboratory-confirmed active tuberculosis case at the facility. An oversight report from U.S. Rep. Jason Crow’s office later found that 61 people were exposed to the sick person and isolated.
State law requires local health departments to look into any cases of TB, so Adams County issued a public health order seeking information regarding infected people’s test results, treatment and current location. The order did not require public health workers to enter the facility.
The GEO Group had until July 17 to provide the information. It didn’t. Gov. Jared Polis’ office then reached out on July 17, and the company said it would have a response by the next week, according to the CDPHE’s complaint. The company then told Polis’ office that the information about the tuberculosis outbreak was “misleading” and that the Department of Homeland Security had already issued a public statement stating there were no cases at the facility.
The CDPHE then issued a state order for the same information on Aug. 13, with a deadline of Aug. 17. At the deadline, the GEO Group claimed it had “numerous conversations and meetings with the Adams County Health Department and other Colorado officials,” according to the lawsuit. The group then directed the state to Homeland Security for more information.
Colorado officials then reached out to both Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but did not hear back, according to Weiser’s office. So now the state is suing.
“Rather than comply, the GEO Group instead directed CDPHE to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. At no time, however, did the GEO Group state that it did not have the requested information or that any federal agency had instructed it not to comply with the public health order,” Weiser says in the release.
According to a 2025 report from the Shut Down GEO Campaign, a coalition calling for the Aurora ICE detainment center to close, many detainees at the facility were underfed and sick, with estimates of 1,100 people staying there each night. According to Congressman Crow, the facility held between 300 to 400 people a night before Trump’s second term. The report, based on interviews with 31 different detainees, detailed that inmates were often given wrong medication when sick or in need, or medical staff outright ignored them.
