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Rep. Crow Blocked From Unannounced Visit to Aurora ICE Detention Center

The denial highlights the deepening split over a new DHS requirement forcing members of Congress to give at least seven days’ notice before touring immigration facilities.

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, who was previously in the Army and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, stands in front of the Freedom Memorial in Aurora, Colorado on May 25, 2024. The Colorado Freedom Memorial presented the 11th Annual Colorado Remembers ceremony, honoring Colorado's fallen veterans and displaying military artifacts. (Photo by Zachary Spindler-Krage/The Denver Post)
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Overview

  • On July 21, Rep. Jason Crow attempted an unannounced inspection of the GEO Group–run Aurora facility but was refused entry under ICE’s advance-notice policy.
  • A June DHS guidance and subsequent ICE rule now require congressional tours to be requested at least 72 business hours or seven days in advance unless a waiver is granted by the homeland security secretary.
  • Crow, who helped enact the 2019 law guaranteeing unannounced congressional oversight visits, asserts the notice mandate unlawfully overrides federal statute.
  • Since mid-June, Democratic lawmakers have faced similar denials at ICE centers in New York, Illinois and California, signaling a nationwide enforcement of the new notice rules.
  • The oversight dispute coincides with ICE’s plan to boost detention capacity to 100,000 beds and its directive ending bond hearings for most undocumented entrants, intensifying legal and political battles over facility transparency.