Colorado Democratic Rep. Jason Crow is again pushing to improve oversight at Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers. He and Republican Rep. John Rutherford of Florida introduced the Public Oversight of Detention Centers Act Tuesday.
If passed, the bill would allow any member of the House or Senate — or their staff members — to gain immediate access to any immigration detention facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security, including Colorado's GEO Group facility in Aurora.
Crow says the legislation was inspired by his own experience of being denied entry for 24 days to the Aurora facility following reports of multiple disease outbreaks there. In August, he wrote a letter with other members of the state delegation to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Professional Responsibility demanding more information on findings and recommendations from unannounced inspections there.
“My experience being denied access to conduct an oversight visit of an immigration detention facility in my own community highlighted the importance of these visits in ensuring government accountability and the humane treatment of all those detained,” Congressman Crow said in a statement.
The facility has had multiple issues with medical care, including the death of asylum seeker Melvin Ariel Calero Mendoza who died there in 2022 following a complication from a toe injury. His family sued the facility and its only physician in October.
The legislation is being endorsed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition among others.
Crow introduced a similar bill in 2019, but it died in committee. A new congress starts at the beginning of the year, and it’s unclear if Crow will re-introduce the bill when it convenes in January.
A GEO Group spokesperson told CPR in a statement that the company offers “condolences to Mr. Calero-Mendoza’s family and remains committed to ensuring the health and safety of all those in [its] custody and care.” They went on to say they do not comment on specific cases that relate to individuals in ICE custody, but that “GEO has a longstanding commitment to respecting the human rights of the individuals in our care and to ethical practices in all aspects of our services.”
