Federal Judge Blocks Parts of Colorado Detention Facility Law

A federal judge in Denver on Thursday temporarily blocked key provisions of a Colorado law that sought to expand state health oversight of the state's only immigration detention facility, ruling the legislation likely violates the U.S. Constitution by singling out a federal contractor for special regulation.

Chief U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Domenico issued a preliminary injunction halting enforcement of parts of House Bill 1276 against the GEO Group, the private company that operates the Aurora ICE Processing Center under a federal contract. The blocked provisions would have required unannounced state health inspections of the facility at least once every three months and imposed a civil penalty of up to $50,000 for each refusal to allow an inspection. In his order, Domenico found that Colorado likely overstepped its authority under the Constitution's Supremacy Clause.

"The law singles out this one category of facility for a separately defined set of restrictions and rulemaking," Domenico wrote. "That is sufficient to establish that HB 1276 discriminates against GEO based on its status as a federal contractor." He noted that as of May, the GEO facility was the only facility...