ACLU of Colorado v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to obtain additional records on the agency’s plans for expanding immigration detention in Colorado and Wyoming, including at the vacant private prison Hudson Correctional Facility. This comes after ICE failed to comply with our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that sought details about the agency’s plans to expand detention in the region

This is not the first time in recent months that ACLU of Colorado has been forced to file FOIA litigation to obtain records regarding ICE’s efforts to expand its detention capacity. In April 2025, ACLU of Colorado and ACLU filed a lawsuit that sought records pertaining to a Request for Information on ICE’s expansion plans in Colorado and Wyoming. The disclosed documents revealed how ICE may try spend some of its record $45 billion budget intended for immigration detention. The documents showed that Hudson REIT, a private real estate investment trust based in Chicago, submitted a response proposing to operate a facility formerly known as the Hudson Correctional Facility located in Hudson, Colorado, as part of ICE’s immigration detention operations.

The Hudson Correctional Facility claims to have a capacity of 1,256 people with day rooms they claim can accommodate additional bunking. The facility also owns 37 adjacent acres of land and claims that it has already received a conditional use permit for a 1,000-bed expansion. Documents state that the facility was in “advanced talks with operators” as of February 2025.

Independent reports by local and national media outlets confirm that ICE has internal “planning road maps” that include expanding detention at the Hudson facility, the Huerfano County Correctional Facility in Walsenburg, Colorado, the Southern Ute detention center near Ignacio, Colorado, as well as expansion at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora. Reporting indicated that ICE has plans to more than triple its detention capacity in Colorado.

Despite the existence of these plans, ICE failed to provide these documents or any others in response to our most recent FOIA Request which has resulted in this second lawsuit demanding that ICE comply with the Freedom of Information Act and immediately turn over the requested records.

ACLU Press Releases:

"ACLU of Colorado Sues ICE for Detention Expansion Plans," September 23, 2025.