Council Files Complaint Against ICE for Medical Neglect of People Sick With COVID-19 in Colorado Facility

The American Immigration Council and partners filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), and Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO) urging an investigation into a COVID-19 outbreak—including threats of retaliation against detained people—at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado.

The complaint filed on behalf of people in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at the Aurora facility contains declarations of people detained at or recently released from the Aurora facility describing personal experiences that reflect ICE and GEO Group’s medical neglect of people sick with COVID-19, threats of retaliation against people in detention, failure to protect the health of medically vulnerable people and to follow COVID-19 safety guidance. The complaint also describes the Aurora facility’s failure to provide accommodations to people with physical and medical disabilities as required by federal law.

The complaint also calls for the release of those detained as the most effective method to protect people in ICE custody, and the surrounding communities, from COVID-19.

Partners include the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, Immigrant Justice Idaho, and Mariposa Legal.