Attorney General Phil Weiser sues to force the GEO Group to cooperate with state investigation into tuberculosis case at Aurora ICE detention center
Aug. 19, 2026 (DENVER) – Attorney General Phil Weiser today filed a lawsuit to force the GEO Group to comply with a state public health order requiring them to provide critical information needed for an investigation of a confirmed case of tuberculosis at their Aurora ICE detention center.
The GEO Group contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to run the Aurora detention facility, but it operates and controls the day-to-day activities of the site. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, or CDPHE, issued a public health order on August 13 after the GEO Group failed to produce medical information, potential contacts, and detainee discharge and transfer information for the state investigation of tuberculosis at the Aurora facility. The company had until August 17 to comply with the order. Under state law, the attorney general has the authority to file suit on behalf of CDPHE to enforce an order issued by CDPHE.
“The GEO Group is endangering Coloradans’ public health by refusing to follow the state health department’s order and by violating Colorado law. This law keeps our residents safe and enables the health department to take necessary measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases like tuberculosis. We will continue to defend Colorado law and ensure that no company flouts our public health and safety laws,” Attorney General Weiser said.
Tuberculosis is a highly contagious disease and is usually treated with antibiotics, but it can be fatal without treatment. The Colorado General Assembly passed laws giving CDPHE and local public health agencies the power and duty to control the spread of disease such as tuberculosis. In fact, state law directs the state health department “to use every available means to investigate immediately and ascertain the existence of all reported or suspected cases of active tuberculosis within [its] jurisdiction, to determine the sources of such infections, and to identify and evaluate the contacts of such cases and offer treatment as appropriate.”
On June 25, 2026, the Adams County Health Department issued a public health order directed at the GEO Group after the county confirmed a tuberculosis case at the Aurora facility three days earlier. After GEO Group failed to fully respond to the county order, CDPHE launched its own investigation of the potential spread of tuberculosis at the Aurora facility.
CDPHE repeatedly requested that the GEO Group provide information necessary to conduct a tuberculosis investigation. Consistent with its previous productive working relationship with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDPHE and state officials sought this information from these entities as well. After exhausting these avenues, CDPHE issued the August 13 public health order, requesting that the GEO Group provide the information by August 17. Rather than comply, the GEO Group instead directed CDPHE to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. At no time, however, did the GEO Group state that it did not have the requested information or that any federal agency had instructed it not to comply with the public health order.
Under Colorado law, it is unlawful for a person to willfully violate, disobey, or disregard the provisions of a public health order. Today’s lawsuit filed in Adams County District Court asks the court to issue an injunction to stop the GEO Group’s stonewalling of the state’s tuberculosis investigation and to protect the public health of Coloradans from a contagious and deadly disease.
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Media Contact:
Mallory Boyce
Communications Specialist
720-219-1898 (cell)
Mallory.Boyce@coag.gov