Following reports from a University of Utah student that she was fed soggy bread and other mush while she was detained for two weeks in a privately run Aurora detention center, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow thought he’d check out conditions at the facility himself with a surprise visit.
Employees for the GEO Group who were working at the facility on Sunday refused to let Crow inspect the facility.
One small problem: A federal law requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities – even those privately owned and operated under contract with ICE – to allow members of Congress to enter the facility for regular, unannounced inspections.
GEO needs to make sure its employees are trained to comply with the law.
And if the company has nothing to hide, complying with the law should be easy.
Crow’s previous political opponent and former ICE official, John Fabbricatore, called the visit to the GEO facility “performative,” after all, it was a weekend, and likely few managers or personnel with ICE would be present to handle the congressman’s request.
We don’t really care whether it was performative or not. The law exists for good reason – these facilities need oversight. Particularly today, when ICE has exponentially increased its detention of noncriminal individuals for immigration violations, leading to young college students getting picked up by immigration officials and detained with hardened criminals. Conditions in these facilities must meet a minimum standard of decency and safety. Conditions will only deteriorate, as they do at all facilities, as ICE officials try to meet untenable goals set by President Donald Trump to detain and deport millions of people from the United States. Overcrowding often results in unsanitary and unsafe conditions both for those detained and those who work in the facilities.
The Denver Post editorial board has long supported securing our borders, and we know that ICE officials do important work keeping our communities safe by apprehending violent criminals and drug dealers who are in the U.S. illegally.
However, even those who have come here to cause us harm deserve to have their human and constitutional rights, which apply to everyone regardless of immigration status, respected. We fear too many people in power have lost sight of this basic American value.
In Florida, reports of conditions at a new facility dubbed Alligator Alcatraz are concerning. The Associated Press reported that those detained suffer worms in their food and wastewater on the floor.
President Donald Trump touted the facility as intentionally being “the worst of the worst” as a way to get people at risk to “self-deport.” Consider for a moment how many hardworking families have come to America seeking asylum in recent years, and now consider that all of them are at risk for detention because of their pending immigration status. ICE has shown zero qualms with detaining first and asking for legal documentation after.
Crow’s diligence on this issue is outstanding. He was just as committed to making sure the GEO facility was operating soundly when President Joe Biden was in office as when Trump started his second term. He is not new to this issue and has been fighting to make sure Coloradans – regardless of their legal status – are treated with decency and respect.
If only all of this great state’s members of Congress could say the same thing.
Crow should return to the GEO facility, unannounced, and try again to see how this private company is treating detained individuals.
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