At least a dozen people held at a federal immigration detention center in Aurora, Colorado have tested positive for tuberculosis as the facility struggles with basic operating conditions, according to an account from someone currently detained there.
The outbreak emerged after all 88 detainees in one unit of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center underwent testing on Saturday. Three days earlier, only one positive case had been identified in that same group. Instead of isolating those who tested positive, staff kept the infected and uninfected detainees together and ordered the entire pod into quarantine for at least seven days.
The situation deteriorated further when the air conditioning failed on Sunday. With Aurora sitting under a heat advisory and temperatures reaching 96 degrees, facility staff distributed electric fans as a makeshift solution. A Mexican detainee in his 30s, who spoke through his long-term partner, described conditions inside the pod as "uncomfortable" and noted that some people were receiving medication, but the lack of functional cooling in the midst of a communicable disease outbreak raised immediate health concerns.
His partner, a U.S. citizen living in South Florida, expressed alarm over both the outbreak and the facility's failure to address the climate control issue. "I manage restaurants and if they lose AC we get it fixed inside 24 or 48 hours," he said. "I don't know why a multimillion dollar corporation can't get an air conditioning technician out there."
Tuberculosis is a serious bacterial infection that spreads through the air when active and can be fatal if untreated. The partner said he worried the facility did not grasp the severity of the situation, particularly given that the detainee has underlying health conditions that could complicate the infection.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Geo Group, the Florida-based private contractor operating the Aurora center, responded to requests for comment or confirmation of the outbreak.
The facility has a published capacity of 1,532 detainees. It remains unclear whether other units within the center have been tested or have returned positive cases, or how many people are currently housed there. As of March, the center held 1,249 detainees.
This is not the first time tuberculosis has surfaced at the Aurora facility. A lawsuit filed by Democratic politicians seeking greater transparency into deaths and disease in federal detention revealed an apparent TB outbreak in April of last year.
Representative Jason Crow, a Democrat whose district includes Aurora, has made oversight of the facility a priority. His office reports he or his staff have visited more than 90 times since 2019 to monitor conditions, and have been refused entry on multiple occasions. In a statement to the Guardian, Crow said he remained committed to holding ICE accountable.
"For-profit prisons have perpetuated ICE's lawlessness and endangered our communities," Crow said. "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."
The Geo Group operates multiple ICE detention facilities and has faced repeated lawsuits alleging "inhumane and unsanitary conditions." In a recent action, the attorney general of New Jersey sued to force the company to allow state health officials into the Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark. Detainees at that facility staged a hunger strike protesting visitation restrictions, inadequate conditions, and insufficient medical care.
On its website, Geo Group states it provides "around-the-clock access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation" at the Aurora facility and claims its health care staffing exceeds that of many state correctional systems.
Author James Rodriguez: "A facility where the AC breaks during a TB outbreak and officials can't respond fast enough is a facility that shouldn't be operating a federal detention center, full stop."
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