SerpApi.Org
GEO Group, a private company operating immigrant detention centers, is set to expand its holding capacity in Colorado after signing a $529 million contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to open a new center just north of Denver International Airport.
The move comes as GEO continues to deny health officials access to determine the extent of a tuberculosis outbreak reported in its Aurora facility.
Mekela Goehring, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, which represents detained individuals, says GEO’s mandate to create profit for shareholders is fundamentally at odds with the health and well-being of people being held.
"Costs are cut in terms of the medical care that's provided to individuals and in terms of the provision of food and services," Goehring outlined. "You simply are not running a facility in the way that it would be run if profit wasn't the number one motive."
GEO told the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment by email there were no active cases of tuberculosis, a highly contagious and potentially life-threatening disease, in its Aurora center. The Adams County Health Department has confirmed a reported case of TB but has not yet been able to independently verify the report.
At least 52 people have died in ICE custody since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, and nearly six in 10 Americans now oppose the administration’s mass deportation program, a 10-point increase from last year.
Goehring pointed out people see ICE is not targeting violent criminals, they are locking up neighbors and co-workers.
"They are our teachers, our scientists, the folks who build our houses," Goehring observed. "We know the deep contributions. We know the deep values that they bring to so many different aspects of our communities."
Goehring added one big misperception is people coming to the U.S. are not following the rules, adding all of the network’s clients are pursuing options available under existing law but the federal government is eviscerating decades of protections meant to ensure equal access to justice.
"Democracy, if it's to continue to exist, has to continue to respect the rule of law. And right now, we're seeing our clients respecting the rule of law in the process that they're going through. But the federal government is not doing the same," Goehring contended.
