Rep. Crow, Sens. Bennet and Hickenlooper Urge Increased Oversight of Aurora ICE Facility

On Monday, Congressman Jason Crow (CO-06), led a letter with Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General (DHS OIG) and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Professional Responsibility (ICE OPR) leadership demanding more information on findings and recommendations from recent unannounced inspections of the Aurora Contract Detention Facility, a facility privately run by the GEO Group. This follows Congressman Crow with Colorado delegation leaders’ repeated pushes for greater transparency of Aurora’s facility and more frequent and rigorous oversight in response to the in-custody death of Nicaraguan asylum seeker Melvin Ariel Calero-Mendoza in October of 2022 – a loss of life amid ongoing concerns of failures to provide appropriate and dignified care to detainees.

On the heels of Mr. Calero-Mendoza’s death, Crow and the Senators called for DHS OIG to independently investigate and for ICE OPR to keep their offices apprised on the status and results of their investigation. Through the investigation conducted by ICE, the ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) produced a Mortality Review Report and addendum that concluded that the care Mr. Calero-Mendoza received in the Facility directly contributed to his death.The unannounced inspections follow the completion of that report.

Lawmakers in the letter highlight the critical need for increased oversight due to serious deficiencies found at the Aurora facility from the unannounced inspections, particularly in light of the outcome of the Mortality Review Report, including access to timely and quality medical care, grievance handling, and prolonged isolation practices. Specifically, they request a briefing to discuss these findings and urge corrective actions to safeguard detainee health and safety and uphold the rights of all in our immigration system.

“Our staff conduct regular oversight visits to tour the Facility, speak with detainees, and address concerns raised by detained individuals and community groups. The Facility’s negative history, including the deaths of individuals in detention, necessitates this push for accountability,” wrote the Members.

They continued: “…And although improvements on deficiencies noted in prior inspections have been made, we are particularly concerned with failures related to medical care and the handling of grievances, given the Facility’s history.”

Congressman Crow continues to prioritize oversight over Aurora’s ICE Processing Center as he calls for the termination of federal contracts with for-profit detention centers.

A PDF of the letter can be found here.

Dear Inspector General Cuffari and Deputy Director Lechleitner:

On October 21, 2022, our offices wrote to Inspector General Cuffari and then-Acting Director Tae Johnson regarding the death of Melvin Ariel Calero-Mendoza, an individual who died while held in detention at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility (“Facility”) on October 13, 2022. This Facility is operated by the GEO Group, LLC. At the time, we asked the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) to keep our offices regularly apprised of their investigation into Mr. Calero-Mendoza’s death, and for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) to review the ICE OPR investigation results and to conduct an independent investigation of its own.

Although the DHS OIG office deferred on completing its own independent investigation and referred the case to ICE OPR, DHS OIG subsequently completed an unannounced inspection of the Facility from October 17-19, 2023. Further, ICE OPR’s Office of Detention Oversight (ODO) also completed an unannounced compliance inspection from February 13-15, 2024. We now have the results of both unannounced inspections and wish to seek additional information regarding concerns raised in these reports, the corresponding recommendations made by the agencies, and steps that will be taken by the Facility to fulfill them.

The Facility in Aurora is subject to rigorous Congressional oversight by our offices as a result of a number of public health related concerns, as well as the treatment of LGBTQIA+ detainees and the use of prolonged isolation. Our staff conduct regular oversight visits to tour the Facility, speak with detainees, and address concerns raised by detained individuals and community groups. The Facility’s negative history, including the deaths of individuals in detention, necessitates this push for accountability.

Inspections by the DHS OIG and ODO found the Facility in compliance with many of the 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS), the standards by which the Facility’s operations are judged. And although improvements on deficiencies noted in prior inspections have been made, we are particularly concerned with failures related to medical care and the handling of grievances, given the Facility’s history.

Deficiencies outlined in the DHS OIG and ODO reports include:

Conduct of required intake medical screening prior to custody classification;
Completion of the initial health screening and comprehensive assessments within the required timelines;
Adherence to notification, hold, and transfer policies related to individuals who are subject to medical or psychiatric alerts or a medical hold;
Timely access to specialty care;
Provision of a medical care summary or referral to community-based providers upon release from detention;
Communication and handling of grievance requests and adherence to all grievance standards; and
Documentation of prolonged segregation.

We know that DHS and ICE officials take the responsibility for care and loss of life in any facility seriously, as do we. As do our constituents, community members, and organizations who work closely to support those who are held in detention and who work to ensure that the treatment they receive is appropriate and dignified. But the reality is that the push for additional oversight like that pursued by our offices is necessary.

In the wake of Mr. Calero-Mendoza’s death in 2022, the ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) produced a Mortality Review Report and addendum whose findings indicated that the care he received in detention directly contributed to his death. This is unacceptable.

Demands for oversight, driven by our communities and our offices, continue to draw attention to this facility and we welcome the oversight conducted by the DHS OIG, ODO, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO), the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), and others.

We request a briefing with our offices no later than August 26, 2024, to discuss the DHS OIG and ODO inspections, recommendations made, and the process by which the Facility can resolve requirements placed upon it through these reports.