Following First Weekly ICE Visit, Rep. Crow Releases Report on Aurora, CO Detention Center

Press Release

Today, Rep. Jason Crow (CO-06) released his office's first report on the Aurora Contract Detention Facility following the visit on July 15, 2019.

The report is part of a continued effort by Crow to bring oversight and accountability to the Aurora Contract Detention Facility and the first of its kind by a member of Congress. Every week, Crow's congressional office or Rep. Crow himself will visit the facility to conduct oversight based on guidelines outlined in the Performance-Based National Detention Standards 2011 and recent concerns brought to the attention of the office.

During yesterday's tour, Crow's staff requested records for the weekly food service area inspection and ICE staff said the report would be delivered in an hour. Crow's office has yet to receive the report and looks forward to reviewing it and sharing any additional relevant information. An earlier inspection of the facility by the Office of Inspector General found that "open package food (that) was not properly labeled and dated for future consumption."

"We know that oversight works. Our first visit in February led to ICE disclosing a mumps outbreak, launching immunization efforts, and helping provide detainees right to counsel when under quarantine," said Crow. "It is our hope that this becomes a national model for other districts. Ensuring safe and sanitary conditions isn't just a public health issue, it is a moral imperative. It's clear that this administration has no interest in holding ICE accountable and it's now the job of Congress to stand up and fight for the decency and dignity of all people in our care."

The decision to launch weekly visits to the facility came after a series of disturbing reports about the conditions at immigration detention centers across the country and ICE's refusal to claim responsibility for medical conditions at private, for-profit immigration detention centers.

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