August 11, 2025 10:19 AM UTC

Colorado Dems Challenge Trump Administration At Aurora ICE Jail

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Rep. Jason Crow posts this update from outside the Aurora ICE detention center, where he and colleagues were apparently allowed in unlike previous visits:

Today, I led a Congressional oversight visit to Aurora’s ICE facility. We will not be deterred from doing our jobs, and that’s exactly why we made this visit today.

Ensuring that we know exactly what is happening in these facilities has never been more important. I will not… pic.twitter.com/JAM20IVL9V

— Rep. Jason Crow (@RepJasonCrow) August 11, 2025

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That’s the local news driving the morning from the Aurora Sentinel, Colorado Democratic representatives led by Rep. Jason Crow are set to challenge the Trump administration’s refusal to allow what were formerly routine inspections of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora:

The visit comes less than a week after Crow announced he is suing the Trump administration, alleging the Department of Homeland Security unlawfully blocked him from entering the center in violation of a federal law allowing members of Congress to make unannounced inspections.

After Crow’s July 20 inspection attempt, spokespersons for Homeland Security’s ICE division said that the congressperson did not give a required seven-days notice before his visit, and so he was not admitted as a matter of department policy…

Rep. Crow’s response is simple: department policy violates the law.

“The Trump Administration attempting to require advance notice for Members of Congress to do their jobs is against the law,” Crow told the Sentinel. “Congress has the authority to make laws — and the law is clear: Members of Congress have the right to immediately access federal facilities to conduct oversight. Try as they might, the Administration cannot ignore the law.”

…Crow’s congressional staff said he will be joined by Reps. Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse and Brittany Pettersen. The time of the inspection was not made public.

We’ll update once we know more about how this attempt to carry out congressional oversight responsibilities goes. As readers know, attempts to inspect ICE facilities in other states in recent days have ended problematically.