Weiser sues to block ICE detention facility in Hudson

DENVER — A lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal district court by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser aims to block the opening of an immigrant detention center in the long-shuttered 1,188-bed Big Horn Correctional Facility building in Hudson.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in July signed a $529 million, five-year lease agreement with GEO Group Inc. (NYSE: GEO), a Florida-based private prison company, to open the facility at 3001 N. Juniper St. When ICE last year identified the defunct facility as the possible home of a new detention center, the announcement sparked heated opposition at Hudson Town Council meetings and a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in September 2025 by the ACLU of Colorado.

According to Weiser’s 30-page lawsuit, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security ignored their statutory duties to consider the potential environmental impacts of the facility, provide information to the public and arrange for civil immigration detention only in places appropriate for it.

“This contract is part of the Trump administration’s effort to substantially increase detention capacity as part of an overall policy to carry out what they have called the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” Weiser said at a Tuesday news conference. “It’s worth noting this operation is proceeding in many cases in defiance of the rule of law, in a way that defies common sense and that lacks basic compassion and decency.”

Weiser branded the government’s detention and deportation tactics “inhumane and often illegal.”

“Despite the fact that the proposed facility would nearly double the size of the town’s population, the federal government has failed to prepare the necessary analysis of the facility’s impact on the local community and resources,” Weiser said. “We’re asking the court to stop any further activities to open and operate the Hudson site until DHS and ICE conduct the legal analysis required by law.”

Weiser said he had received reports that construction already is beginning at the site and that, according to its lease agreement, GEO Group’s repairs and renovations to the facility could lead to its opening “even as soon as later this year.

“Neither DHS nor ICE, however, engaged in the required public review process involving the necessary analysis of potential environmental impacts from any of the construction, renovation or operation of this facility,” Weiser said, “and our state is not aware of any finding that there could be an exemption from the required environmental review.”

The lawsuit claims that DHS and ICE, in their rush to expand detention capacity across the country, failed to arrange for an appropriate place for detention of civil immigration detainees, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act. Because the federal agencies have failed to conduct any public environmental analysis, it says, the state has no information about the extent of the work and repairs that need to be undertaken at the facility to make it suitable to house people again.”

Weiser’s lawsuit asks a court to vacate and set aside the federal government’s contract with GEO Group and to stop further work on it until the government complies with the law. The lawsuit also asks the court to order the agencies to prepare an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement under NEPA and document their compliance with federal immigration law.

“In Colorado, we believe in fair and equal treatment of everyone,” said Weiser, a Democrat who is running for governor to succeed the term-limited Jared Polis. “The building in which I work is named after Ralph Carr, a former governor who stood up for this principle, standing up against a federal government pushing detention facilities for Japanese Americans” during World War II.

The contract between ICE and GEO stipulates that GEO will begin paying $250,000 in monthly rent to Chicago-based Highlands REIT, a real estate investment trust that owns the building.

The support-services contract is expected to generate approximately $85 million in annual revenues in the first full year of operations, excluding transportation revenue, according to a GEO news release. GEO’s support services are expected to include the exclusive use of the facility by ICE, along with security, maintenance and food services, as well as access to recreational amenities, medical care and legal counsel.

Hudson town officials, in a community update published in July, said they had no power to stop the facility’s use as a detention center.

“The Town does not have approval authority over federal immigration detention operations at this private facility,” the update said. “At this time, the Town has not received detailed operational information directly from federal agencies.”

Still, Janet Carlson, whose property borders the site of the detention center, joined Denver-based immigrant-rights group Together Colorado to file a complaint against the town in July.

Weiser’s lawsuit, a civil action filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, is The State of Colorado v. U.S, Department of Homeland Security; Markwayne Mullin, in his official capacity as Secretary of Homeland Security; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and David J. Venturella, in his official capacity as Senior Official performing the duties of the Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Case No. 26-cv-04832.

Share on Facebook on LinkedIn