Tuberculosis Cases Confirmed at Aurora ICE Facility
At least 12 people detained at a federal immigration jail in Aurora, Colorado, have contracted tuberculosis in recent days, according to testimony from inside the facility where dozens of others have reportedly been placed in quarantine. Those affected by the outbreak are also being made to endure their isolation without air conditioning, one detainee who has been at the facility since December told the Guardian, through his partner, in a telephone call on Monday afternoon.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Geo Group, the Florida-based private company that operates the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center under government contract, responded to a request for comment or confirmation. But the Mexican detainee in his 30s, whose name the Guardian is not publishing for fear of possible retribution by guards, gave a detailed account of developments inside the troubled center over the past few days, which have included the mass testing of everyone within one of the center’s so-called pods.
Mass Testing Reveals Rapid Spread
The person said that all 88 people he is detained with received testing on Saturday, with 12 positive cases coming back, up from a single case three days earlier. Instead of separating those infected, he said, guards kept them together with those who were not sick, and the entire group was told they must stay in quarantine for at least a week. To make matters worse, the detainee said, the air conditioning in the pod broke down on Sunday, and staff distributed electric fans. On Monday afternoon, Aurora was under a heat advisory with the outside air temperature at 96F (36C).
It is not known how many people are incarcerated at the center, which has a published capacity of 1,532, and the person said he was unaware if any of the other pods of detainees had been tested or returned any positive results. He described the situation inside as “uncomfortable”, but said he had seen some of his fellow detainees receiving medication in the mornings and afternoons.
Detainee Partner Expresses Concern
His long-term partner, a US citizen who lives in south Florida, whose identity the Guardian is also withholding, said the apparently worsening conditions at the facility were causing anxiety. Tuberculosis is a serious bacterial infection that in its active form can be transmitted in the air, and can prove fatal if left untreated. “I don’t know if they understand the severity of what TB is,” he said. “Obviously it’s not a good thing, and he has some other underlying health conditions which are a concern for us. The first day he was very scared, very worried. Their focus is more associated with having no air conditioning. I don’t understand what the hold up is. I manage restaurants and if they lose AC we get it fixed inside 24 or 48 hours. I don’t know why a multimillion dollar corporation can’t get an air conditioning technician out there.”
History of Health Concerns at the Facility
The reported infections are the latest in a series of health concerns at the Colorado immigration jail. There was another apparent TB outbreak in April last year, according to a lawsuit filed by a number of Democratic politicians seeking more transparency from the Trump administration over deaths and disease in federal detention facilities. One of the plaintiffs, Jason Crow, a Democratic congressman who represents Aurora, has maintained an online database of oversight visits. It features occasions on which he was also refused admission, and requests for information about conditions at the facility, which housed 1,249 detainees as recently as March. Since 2019, Crow, or his staff, have visited the facility to conduct oversight more than 90 times, according to the congressman’s office, and a spokesperson said he was determined to keep monitoring the situation inside closely.
“For-profit prisons have perpetuated ICE’s lawlessness and endangered our communities,” Crow said in a statement to the Guardian. “I’ve led the charge to end this broken and humane system. Until we do, I’ll continue to conduct oversight to hold ICE accountable.”
Geo Group Faces Multiple Lawsuits
The Geo Group, which has close ties to members of the Trump administration, a report found in May, has faced lawsuits of its own over “inhumane and unsanitary conditions” at facilities it runs. In the latest action last month, Jennifer Davenport, the attorney general of New Jersey, sued to try to force the company to allow officials from the state’s department of health into the notorious Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark. Detainees there staged a hunger strike over visitation, conditions and what they said was a lack of medical care provided by Geo Group staff and contractors. A number of protesters were hurt in a series of violent clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement outside the facility.
On its website, Geo Group said it provides “around-the-clock access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation” at its Aurora facility, and that “health care staffing at GEO’s ICE Processing Center is more than double that of many states’ correctional facilities”.
