DENVER — Three of Colorado’s congressional Democrats are calling on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to abandon plans to open a new immigration detention facility in the small Weld County town of Hudson.

“As ICE agents continue to terrorize our communities, illegally detain U.S. citizens and skirt congressional oversight of existing facilities, we strongly oppose the expansion of ICE detention beds in Colorado,” U.S. Rep. Brittany Petterson and Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons.

Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado revealed that ICE had identified a defunct private prison in Hudson as the site for a new immigration detention center, the Big Horn Facility, that would expand detention beds from 1,532 at ICE’s existing detention facility in Aurora to more than 2,700 beds across the state.

The documents showed that ICE issued a contract to the GEO Group for $39,042,069 for six months of services at the Big Horn Facility, according to the congressional letter. The documents were heavily redacted, so details about the contract — including terms and pricing — were not yet known. The status of the contract remains unclear.

DHS representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

“We are deeply concerned that this expansion will lead to decreased oversight, reduced access to legal representation for detained individuals and increased geographical barriers for visitors,” Petterson, Bennet and Hickenlooper wrote. “The GEO Group and ICE have a demonstrated history of blocking Congressional oversight of the Aurora GEO Detention Facility by refusing Members of Congress access to the facility, withholding answers to oversight questions, and failing to respond to congressional casework inquiries. There is no reason to believe that these illegal actions will not be continued in the Big Horn Facility.”

ICE also redacted more than 100 pages of documents from late August that appeared to justify why the agency should award a sole contract to the GEO Group for the Hudson facility without full and open competition.

The possible ICE expansion into Hudson has drawn opposition from across Colorado. Protesters have gathered outside the former private prison multiple times and flooded the small town’s council meetings, pleading with Hudson leaders to push back against the proposed plans.

The congressional letter noted that the facility’s remote location would hinder family and legal representatives from visiting detained immigrants, delaying legal proceedings and limiting access to counsel.

“We therefore seek clarity into the Department of Homeland Security decision to authorize such a facility and what actions it will take to ensure those detained in the facility will have equal and adequate access to legal representation as their cases remain ongoing,” they wrote. “We strongly oppose the use of the Big Horn Detention Center as an ICE detention facility, and we urge DHS to immediately abandon plans to expand detention capacity in Colorado.”

Pettersen, Bennet and Hickenlooper requested responses to eight questions by March 13. They asked for confirmation that the GEO Group had already received and spent nearly $39 million prior to anyone being detained in the facility, and requested an itemized explanation of how that money was spent.

They also asked how many beds ICE expects the facility to hold and what steps will be taken to ensure health and safety standards are met.

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