An immigrant rights group this week sued the town of Hudson in an attempt to block the Trump administration from converting a shuttered private prison into an immigrant detention facility.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Weld County District Court, argues the property isn’t zoned for a detention center, and accuses town officials of ignoring their own land use codes by allowing the GEO Group to open the facility without a special permit.
“This case is about whether the town of Hudson is powerless to act in the face of plans to open a 1,200-bed immigration detention facility within its borders,” the lawsuit says. “It is not.”
The site of the former Hudson Correctional Facility has been home to months of protests over a proposal to reopen it as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s second detention center in Colorado. Last week, GEO Group, a Florida-based private prison operator, announced it had signed a five-year, $528.7 million contract to operate the facility as the Big Horn immigration detention center, thrusting the small town into the political spotlight.
Town officials did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday.
The suit was brought by Together Colorado, a multifaith nonprofit organization that advocates for human dignity, and Weld County resident Janet Carlson. Workers rights group Towards Justice is litigating the case on their behalf.
Located 30 miles northeast of Denver, Hudson has a population of about 1,600 people. Opponents of the detention center packed last week’s town council meeting to voice their disgust with the project.
But town leaders denied having any power to stop the federal government from opening such a facility.
“The town does not have approval authority over federal immigration detention operations at this private facility,” town officials said in a statement after the GEO contract was announced.
David Seligman, the executive director of Towards Justice, said in a statement that that’s simply not true.
“Hudson is not a bystander,” said Seligman, a Democrat who mounted an unsuccessful primary run earlier this year for state attorney general. “The town has the authority and the obligation to act.”
The lawsuit says that the facility’s land is zoned for industrial uses — a category that doesn’t include detention centers or correctional facilities.
When the facility was used previously as a private prison on behalf of the state of Alaska, it operated under a conditional use permit issued in 2008 and approved by town voters through a ballot measure, the lawsuit says. That permit said “any proposed change to the specified use of the facility” had to go back to the town government for approval.
The facility closed in 2013, and has been vacant since.
At last week’s meeting, Hudson officials said they are preparing for potential impacts from the center, including coordinating with emergency response agencies. But the town mostly remains in the dark.
Town Manager Bryce Lange told audience members that officials were still trying to establish direct communication with GEO to learn about the center’s operational timeline as well as staffing and traffic.
GEO’s track record elsewhere has not been one of transparency or cooperation with local officials. It also operates the immigration detention facility in Aurora under a contract with ICE. The company is currently in a standoff with local health officials who say GEO is blocking their investigation into the possible spread of tuberculosis there.
In a press release, the Rev. Ben Konecny of Greeley’s First Congregational Church characterized the fight as a moral obligation for people of faith.
“ICE detention facilities have proven time and time again to be sites of human rights atrocities and constitutional violations,” Konecny said in a statement. “This one will be no exception.”
Staff writer Colleen Slevin contributed to this story.