Photo: U.S. Reps. Joe Neguse, left, and Jason Crow, right, conducted an unannounced oversight visit to the ICE detention center in Aurora on Thursday. (Screenshot from Rep. Jason Crow’s X account)
This story by Lindsey Toomer appeared on Colorado Newsline on February 6, 2026.
Two Colorado Democrats in Congress conducted an unannounced oversight visit Thursday at an immigration detention center in Aurora.
U.S. Reps. Jason Crow of Aurora and Joe Neguse of Lafayette say they made the visit to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility a few days after a federal judge temporarily blocked a Trump administration policy that prevented members of Congress from making unannounced oversight visits at facilities that hold immigrants.
Neguse is the lead plaintiff in that case, with Crow and other congressional Democrats also named as plaintiffs.
“Last year was the deadliest year at federal detention facilities in decades,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. “Billions of taxpayer dollars are being used to carry out a violent and lawless immigration agenda. Coloradans deserve transparency and accountability.”
According to Crow’s office, 1,376 people are in custody at the Aurora ICE facility, which is run by a private corporation, the GEO Group. The facility recently increased its capacity to 1,530 detainees, and ICE representatives told Crow’s staff during a visit to the facility in January that it was “slightly below capacity.”
Crow has routinely made oversight visits to the Aurora facility in his time in office. The Thursday visit was his 11th, and his staff has visited it more than 80 times. The lawsuit came after he was denied entry to the facility in July.
A 2019 federal appropriations law allows members of Congress to conduct unannounced visits at facilities that hold immigrants. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem implemented a new policy that requires seven days notice for lawmakers to conduct oversight visits, saying facilities funded through last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act do not need to comply with the 2019 appropriations law.
The oversight visit by Neguse and Crow comes amid growing national backlash to the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, which in Minnesota last month involved the killing by immigration agents of two citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. In 2025, 32 people reportedly died in ICE custody.
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