Colorado groups say Homeland Security skirted environmental analysis for new ICE facility

Two advocacy organizations sued the U.S Department of Homeland Security on Monday over allegations that the agency violated environmental protection laws by not completing an impact review for a planned immigration detention facility in Hudson.

DHS has a legal obligation under the National Environmental Policy Act to complete an assessment of how the facility could impact variables like infectious disease spread, water availability and air quality in the small town northeast of Denver, they argue.

“Big Horn would almost double the population of Hudson, but Hudson and the surrounding area lack the infrastructure and environmental capacity to safely and effectively handle this rapid expansion,” the complaint says. The proposed site is known as Big Horn Correctional Facility.

The lawsuit comes from GreenLatinos and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. It names DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement head David Venturella, and their agencies as defendants. It was filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado.

DHS tapped The GEO Group, the private company that runs ICE’s detention center in Aurora, to reopen a shuttered 1,250-bed prison in Hudson as Colorado’s second immigration detention facility. The company announced a five-year contract with the federal government over the summer. Activists have protested against the plan since it was first rumored in 2025, and the formal announcement fueled more demonstrations at various town council meetings.

A separate lawsuit alleges that the facility is not zoned properly for an immigration detention site.

DHS spokesperson Chandler Rebel wrote in an email that the NEPA case is about “trying to stop President Trump from making America safe again.”

“The left didn’t care about the mountains of litter that illegal aliens dropped on ranches and riverbeds during Biden’s border crisis,” Rebel wrote. “They’re feigning concern now because they want those same illegal aliens to stay forever and vote here.”

Experts say there is little to no evidence of voter fraud from immigrants who are ineligible to vote.

Air pollution

Under NEPA, agencies must complete an environmental analysis or environmental impact statement before undertaking a “major federal action,” according to the lawsuit. Plaintiffs’ lawyers point out that DHS and ICE did such an analysis before opening similar sites in Texas in 2016 and 2021. They want a judge to force a stop to pre-construction activities and prohibit the opening of the Hudson facility until the federal government fulfills the NEPA requirement.

“By illegally failing to conduct a NEPA analysis, ICE has denied itself, members of the public, and Colorado elected officials, including its U.S. Senators and a member of Congress, critical information about the consequences of ICE’s choices and actions, opportunities to mitigate adverse impacts, and the opportunity to submit comments to obtain better outcomes,” the complaint says.

CIRC and GreenLatinos suggested the facility could ​worsen air pollution, especially as the Denver metro area already exceeds federal ozone limits. Diesel-burning generators and increased vehicle traffic from staff, visitors and suppliers will add emissions to the air. The groups also worry about increased demands on Hudson’s water supply and wastewater treatment system.

“Our commitment to environmental justice extends to the people living near this facility as well as to those who would be confined inside it,” GreenLatinos CEO Mark Magaña said in a statement. “We oppose any expansion that threatens the health and human dignity of those held, and the basic environmental protections of the surrounding community.”

Additionally, the lawsuit expresses doubt about GEO’s ability to control infectious diseases that could spread from the facility into the surrounding community. GEO is the subject of multiple public health orders and a lawsuit from the state over its noncompliance with a legally-required investigation into a summer tuberculosis case at the Aurora facility.

“Without a NEPA analysis, there is no public information available to demonstrate that ICE has done anything to prepare Big Horn to address and mitigate this risk. Rather, the opposite is true. ICE’s contractor for Big Horn, GEO Group, has pursued a dangerous, noncooperative approach to dealing with infectious diseases,” the complaint says.