On the evening of Thursday, July 16, a woman was shot in the leg by an employee of the GEO Group, Inc. outside of the ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colorado. According to news reports, the GEO Group employee was later arrested.
The following statement can be attributed to ACLU of Colorado Executive Director Olivia Mendoza:
"We are furious to learn of the shooting outside the GEO detention facility in Aurora. Not only are immigrant communities being terrorized by ICE and federal agents, now protesters who are exercising their First Amendment right must also fear violence by people employed as ICE contractors.
“ICE and its employees are out of control and must face accountability. This shooting comes on the heels of recent reports revealing a tuberculosis outbreak that GEO is refusing to let health officials investigate, poor water quality, and a new ACLU of Colorado report documenting the terrible conditions inside the facility.
“There is a lot we do not yet know. What we do already know is that ICE and its private immigration contractors at the GEO Group are making our communities less safe and threatening the Constitutional rights of people exercising free speech. The violence of this administration’s immigration agents is spreading to the private detention corporations themselves.
“The GEO Group is a corporation that owns or operates nearly two dozen immigration detention centers in the U.S. and is financially profiting off the drastically increasing number of people that the Trump administration is incarcerating in their facilities. The GEO Group has earned billions since the Trump administration took office.
“The GEO Group was recently given a contract to operate another immigration detention center in Hudson, Colorado. In total the GEO Group operates 51 facilities across the U.S., including private prisons, processing centers, administrative offices, and private probation.
“As ICE and its private contractors continue their reckless, and unlawful actions, our fight against their injustices will remain relentless. The ACLU of Colorado will never stop asserting, defending, and protecting Coloradans’ civil liberties.
“In the hours and days to come, we will learn more about this shooting. We demand a transparent investigation involving state and local officials, as this rogue agency and its private contractors have shown themselves to be dangerous, destructive, and outside the law. They must be stopped.”