Colorado sues Geo Group to force compliance with tuberculosis investigation at ICE detention center

Seth Klamann, The Denver Post on Aug 19, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

DENVER — The Colorado Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to force the operator of the state’s sole immigrant detention center to comply with a tuberculosis investigation at the facility.

The lawsuit, filed in Denver District Court, was expected after private prison company Geo Group ignored a Monday deadline to turn over records about the June tuberculosis case at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s facility to state health authorities.

The state’s lawsuit argues that, because Geo and ICE have not provided records to health inspectors, Colorado is “flying in the dark when it comes to a contagious and deadly infectious disease within its borders.”

The lawsuit asks a Denver judge to issue a ruling enforcing the public health order.

“The Geo Group is endangering Coloradans’ public health by refusing to follow the state health department’s order and by violating Colorado law,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement. “This law keeps our residents safe and enables the health department to take necessary measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases like tuberculosis.”

In a statement Tuesday, Geo spokesman Christopher Ferreira did not comment on the company’s refusal to comply with the health order. He said there were no active cases of TB at the Aurora detention center and that federal authorities “remain actively involved in disease-prevention and control measures” at the facility.

The lawsuit was filed under a Colorado law requiring investigations of tuberculosis cases, which directs the state “to use every available means to investigate immediately and ascertain the existence of all reported or suspected cases of active tuberculosis within (its) jurisdiction.” The suit was not filed under a new law passed earlier this year, which requires more regular inspections of the Geo facility and empowers state authorities to penalize the company for failing to comply with communicable disease probes. Geo is currently challenging that new law in federal court.

In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, lawyers for the state argue that health inspectors had partnered with Geo to conduct disease investigations in the past, including a mumps case in 2019 and another TB infection in 2024. But in this case, Geo stopped speaking with Adams County officials after the company set up a call between inspectors and the infected patient in late June.

The company instead directed health officials to send all questions through Geo’s lawyers, according to the suit. Gov. Jared Polis made at least two attempts to speak to senior Geo staff, both of which were rebuffed.

The standoff in Colorado began in June, when Adams County health officials learned that a Geo detainee had tested positive for TB, a potentially fatal respiratory disease.

Adams County officials issued a health order later that month seeking access to the facility and more information about the patient and anyone with whom they had come into contact. Geo ignored that order and a mid-July request from state health officials for the same information.

Amid pressure from advocates, state officials from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued another public health order to Geo last week. The order dropped the prior request for access to the detention center, though it still sought records about the patient and their potential contacts.

Washington state and New Jersey have both also filed recent lawsuits against Geo to force the company to allow health inspectors access to its facilities in those states.

------------