GEO Group Sues Colorado to Block Immigrant Detention Facility Inspections

GEO Group wants you to believe it is a victim of state overreach. It is actually a tenant refusing to let the landlord check the plumbing.

The private prison giant filed a lawsuit Monday to stop Colorado from enforcing House Bill 1276. The law requires regular health and safety inspections of immigrant detention facilities. GEO claims the state has no business poking around federal operations.

Make no mistake. This is about money, control, and who gets to define "good enough" for people locked in cages.

The lawsuit argues the new inspection regime exceeds state authority. It claims the provisions are preempted by federal law. GEO asserts the state is impermissibly trying to directly regulate federal immigration operations. That violates the Supremacy Clause. It also impairs GEO’s contracts with the U.S., violating the Contracts Clause.

The company is asking for declaratory and injunctive relief. It wants the court to stop the state from implementing and enforcing the legislation. GEO is not asking for a tweak. It wants the law halted.

The bill passed largely along party lines. Democrats hold the majority. Governor Jared Polis signed HB 1276 into law on June 4. It was one of the few immigration-related bills to survive the session. Other proposals failed. Senate Bill 5, which would have given people more authority to sue in state court over federal immigration enforcement violations, was vetoed. Polis argued it was crafted too narrowly.

This bill was different. It focused on conditions. It authorized additional state health inspections. It required new training for police officers on Colorado laws related to complying with federal immigration enforcement. The legislation was amended at the governor’s request to remove a provision that would have made it illegal for state agencies to comply with immigration enforcement subpoenas.

GEO is now fighting the inspection part.

The lawsuit names two officials with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Jill Hunsaker Ryan, the executive director, and Jeff Lawrence, who directs the sustainability division. Kerry Weidenback, the executive director of the Adams County Health Department, is also named in her official capacity. Adams County is where the Aurora facility sits. That is where the inspections will happen. The legal fees will be paid there.

Neither agency nor Polis’ office has yet responded to a request for comment. GEO has not responded either. The company is silent while it tries to freeze the law in court.

The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition called the lawsuit a threat to dignity. The group said HB 1276 was passed to ensure immigrants were treated with dignity while awaiting their immigration decisions. For decades, they’ve heard horrific stories about conditions. Inspections are supposed to prove those stories wrong or right.

GEO operates facilities nationwide. It operates one in Colorado. The company knows the state wants a seat at the table. The state wants to know if the lights work. If the food is safe. If the cells are clean. GEO wants to keep that data internal. It wants to keep the federal government as its only auditor.

The short version is this: Colorado says it has the right to inspect. GEO says it doesn’t. The court will decide.

But look at the timing. The bill passed last month. The lawsuit was filed Monday. GEO is moving fast. It doesn’t want inspectors walking into the Aurora facility next week. It wants to tie the state up in legal knots for months.

Read that again. The state is not trying to deport anyone. It is not trying to seize the building. It is trying to count the beds. It is trying to check the air quality. GEO is suing to stop the counting.

The company claims the law impairs its contracts with the U.S. That is a bold claim. The U.S. government is the primary landlord. If the state checks the condition of the property, does that change the lease? GEO thinks so. It thinks every inspection is an infringement on its federal contract rights.

Locals in Adams County will pay for this. Legal fees add up. Taxpayers fund the courts. They also fund the health department. Every day the law is stayed, the state spends money. Every day the law is enforced, GEO spends money fighting it.

The immigrant rights group is watching. They are waiting to see if the courts side with the state’s police power or the corporation’s contract rights. If GEO wins, the state loses its leverage. The facilities get a pass. If the state wins, the lights stay on and the inspections continue.

GEO hasn’t explained why it needs a court order to stop a health check. It just says the state can’t do it. The burden is now on the courts to figure out who owns the right to look inside.