{"id":7814459,"date":"2026-07-23T13:13:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T19:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=7814459"},"modified":"2026-07-23T16:37:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:37:01","slug":"hudson-ice-detention-facility-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2026\/07\/23\/hudson-ice-detention-facility-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigration advocates sue town in bid to block new ICE detention center northeast of Denver"},"content":{"rendered":"

HUDSON — A group of immigration advocates on Thursday announced a new lawsuit aimed at preventing the Trump administration from opening a planned immigration detention facility in their Weld County town.<\/p>\n

Together Colorado<\/a>, a nonprofit collection of faith leaders fighting for humane immigration policies, and a Weld County resident sued the town of Hudson and its Town Council, arguing the municipality must enforce its land development code as the federal government moves toward reopening a shuttered private prison for use as a 1,188-bed detention center.<\/p>\n

The property, which the Alaska Department of Corrections used as a prison until it closed in 2013, is not zoned for use as a detention facility, the complaint states.<\/p>\n

For it to be used in that capacity, the property owner must obtain approval through public processes outlined in Hudson’s code, Together Colorado alleges in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Weld County District Court.<\/p>\n

“This case is about a basic proposition: Colorado and its cities and towns are not powerless. Hudson is not a bystander. The town has the authority and the obligation to act,\u201d said David Seligman, executive director of the nonprofit law firm Towards Justice<\/a>, and an attorney litigating the case. \u201cThe town is being told to hand over the keys and ask no questions. But Hudson’s obligation runs to the people, not to a billion-dollar prison company and its out-of-state landlord.”<\/p>\n

\"The
The former Hudson Correctional Facility is in Hudson, Colorado on Thursday, July 23, 2026. The Geo Group has signed a multiyear contract with the Trump administration to reopen a shuttered prison in Hudson, Colorado, and turn it into an immigration detention center. (Photo by Hyoung Chang\/The Denver Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The lawsuit comes 10 days after the private prison giant Geo Group announced it had signed a five-year contract<\/a> with the Trump administration to reopen the shuttered prison as part of the president’s mass-deportation agenda.<\/p>\n

The agreement — worth more than half a billion dollars<\/a> — will nearly double U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention capacity in Colorado. Geo operates ICE’s other Colorado immigration facility in Aurora, which can hold more than 1,500 detainees.<\/p>\n

Geo has not said when the Hudson facility — to be called the Big Horn Contract Detention Center — would open, though its lease begins Aug. 1 and will last for 88 months, according to securities filings.<\/p>\n

Hudson, a small town roughly 30 miles northeast of Denver, has been the site of repeated protests<\/a> from community members opposing the government’s plans.<\/p>\n

Bryce Lange, the town manager, told The Post on Thursday that the U.S. Constitution supersedes local zoning. Hudson, he said, will focus on what it can do — which is maintain roads, public safety and water for the area.<\/p>\n

“The town zoning code cannot stop immigration enforcement,” Lange said.<\/p>\n

But Together Colorado alleges Hudson has both a legal and moral obligation to follow its code.<\/p>\n

The facility is located in an industrial zoning district, the lawsuit states, which does not include correctional facilities.<\/p>\n

\"Meghan
Meghan Carrier, Executive Director of Together Colorado, speaks during the press conference announcing a lawsuit against the town of Hudson over them allowing a closed prison to be reopened as an ICE detention center in Hudson, Colorado on Thursday, July 23, 2026. (Photo by Hyoung Chang\/The Denver Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before its prior period of operation as a prison, Hudson voters approved a conditional use permit for the property by ballot measure, the complaint says.<\/p>\n