Cashing in on Cruelty: Stories of death, abuse and neglect at the GEO immigration detention facility in Aurora

Document Date: September 17, 2019

On November 17, 2017, federal immigration agents arrested Kamyar Samimi, a Legal Permanent Resident who had lived in the U.S. for over four decades, at his home in Thornton, Colorado. He was taken to the Aurora Contract Detention Facility, operated by the for-profit prison company The GEO Group, Inc. Two weeks later, he died in their custody.

Related Content

Court Case
In the Courts, ACLU of Colorado logo on a blue background with a woman holding the scales of justice.
  • Immigrant Justice

SAMIMI-GOMEZ et al v. THE GEO GROUP, INC. et al

In this lawsuit, the children of Kamyar Samimi seek to hold the Geo Group accountable for the wrongful death of their father. Mr. Samimi, a Legal Permanent Resident, died in December 2017, after two weeks in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility, a for-profit detention center operated by GEO. The ACLU of Colorado’s investigation, which required a lawsuit to force ICE to release records under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed a gut-wrenching picture of his final days and reflected the inhumane conditions and lack of adequate medical care at ACDF.