A new report claims that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to open a new illegal immigrant detention center in Colorado by the end of the year, following the increase in funding granted to ICE as part of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” The plans for the new detention center come as the Trump administration is increasing efforts to arrest and deport illegal immigrants across the country.
According to The Denver Post, a spokesperson for Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) told the outlet that lawmakers were informed of a plan to create a new detention facility in Hudson, Colorado, while visiting an ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, on Monday.
The Denver Post reported that the ICE field office in Denver is reportedly discussing the potential for the Hudson Correctional Facility to serve as a new detention center for the agency. According to the outlet, the Hudson Correctional Facility, which had 1,250 beds, was operated by the GEO Group before it was closed in 2014.
According to The Denver Post, ICE’s detention facility in Aurora is currently contracted to hold as many as 1,360 illegal immigrants. If the agency establishes a second detention facility at the Hudson Correctional Facility, ICE will have nearly double the amount of space to detain illegal immigrants in Colorado amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration across the country.
In April, ICE Field Office Director Robert Guadian told Fox 31 that ICE was in need of another detention facility to have enough space to detain illegal immigrants due to the increase in ICE arrests under the Trump administration. The Denver Post reported that the Hudson Correctional Facility was one of six possible locations ICE was offered earlier this year.
In a statement to Fox 31, an ICE spokesperson said, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enhanced enforcement operations and routine daily operations have resulted in a significant number of arrests of criminal aliens that require greater detention capacity. While we cannot confirm individual pre-decisional conversations, we can confirm that ICE is exploring all options to meet its current and future detention requirements.”
