Attorney General Phil Weiser sues to halt new immigrant detention camp in Hudson

Attorney General Phil Weiser sues to halt new immigrant detention camp in Hudson

Sept. 29, 2026 (DENVER) - Attorney General Phil Weiser today sued to halt the Trump administration's plans to open and operate a new immigrant detention camp at the site of a former state prison in the town of Hudson about 30 miles northeast of Denver.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have contracted with the GEO Group to renovate the former Hudson Correctional Facility that closed 12 years ago and operate it as a 1,200-bed private immigration detention camp, known as the Big Horn facility. According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Denver, DHS and ICE ignored their statutory duties to consider the potential environmental impacts of the facility, provide information to the public, and arrange for civil immigration detention only in places appropriate for it.

"Coloradans are deeply worried about plans to open a new immigrant detention facility in Hudson to carry out the Trump administration's inhumane-and often illegal-mass deportation scheme. Despite the fact that the proposed facility would nearly double the size of the town's population, the federal government has failed to prepare the necessary analysis of the facility's impact on the local community and resources. We're asking the court to stop any further activities to open and operate the Hudson site until DHS and ICE conduct the legal analysis required by law," Attorney General Weiser said.

The lawsuit alleges that DHS and ICE, in their rush to expand detention capacity across the country, have ignored their legal obligation to first determine what effect their actions would have on nearby residents and the surrounding environment and to arrange for an appropriate place for detention of civil immigration detainees. These actions violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Immigration and Nationality Act. Because the federal agencies have failed to conduct any public environmental analysis, the state has no information about the extent of the work and repairs that need to be undertaken at the facility to make it suitable to house people again, the lawsuit explains.

A large percentage of ICE detainees are held in facilities either owned or operated by private prison companies like GEO Group, which also owns and operates the Aurora ICE detention camp. In the past, DHS complied with federal law and reviewed the environmental impacts of detention facilities under its control in Texas. Additionally, prior environmental reviews of facilities used to house ICE detainees extended to facilities operated by contractors. Nothing in recent congressional funding bills exempts ICE from complying with NEPA or any other legal requirement.

Attorney General Weiser said the proposed Hudson facility should not be treated differently.

The attorney general's lawsuit asks a court to vacate and set aside the federal government's contract with the GEO Group to renovate and operate the Big Horn facility, and to stop further work on the facility, including construction and renovation needed to make the facility operable as a civil immigration detention center, until the government complies with the law. The lawsuit also asks the court to order the agencies to prepare an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement under NEPA and document their compliance with federal immigration law.

Read the complaint (PDF).

Read the motion for preliminary injunction (PDF).

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