What the New ICE Detention Facility in Hudson, Colorado Means for Immigrant Families

A new 1,188-bed ICE detention facility is coming to Hudson. If someone you love is detained, here is what is happening — and what you can do right now.

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Barbed wire fence at an immigration detention facility in Colorado

Introduction

If you found this page because someone you love is detained and you just saw the words "Big Horn" or "Hudson, Colorado" in a headline, take a breath. You are in the right place, and you are not alone. What you are feeling — the fear that your husband, your daughter, your brother could be moved somewhere far away, out of reach of the court, out of reach of you — is real, and it deserves real answers.

This page explains, in plain terms, what just happened in Hudson, what The GEO Group is, what an independent investigation found about how immigration detention is run in Colorado, and — most importantly — what you can do today to protect your family. We are Novo Legal Group, a Spanish-first immigration and civil rights firm rooted in Colorado. We fight for immigrants and refugees, and we do not accept that a family should be left in the dark while decisions are made about someone they love.

You do not need us to convince you this is serious. You already know. What you need is information you can act on and a team that will pick up the phone. Let's start with what is actually happening.

Don't wait for a transfer notice.

If your loved one is already detained, talk to our team now. Our intake team answers in English and Spanish — call (888) 746-5245 or schedule online.

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What Just Happened: The Big Horn Facility Contract

On July 13, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded The GEO Group a five-year contract to operate an immigration detention facility in Hudson, Colorado, according to a press release issued by GEO Group. The facility is called the Big Horn Correctional Facility, and GEO's announcement describes it as a 1,188-bed facility.

A five-year contract is not a temporary arrangement. In practical terms, it signals that federal immigration authorities intend to expand detention capacity in Colorado for years to come — which generally means more people detained, and a greater chance that a person already in ICE custody could be transferred to a new location. For families, the most immediate concern is transfer risk, which we cover in detail below.

The Hudson facility is not brand-new construction that appeared out of nowhere. According to the ACLU of Colorado, the site was previously known as the Hudson Correctional Facility and was renamed "Big Horn" in internal ICE documents disclosed through public-records litigation. Earlier disclosures reviewed by the ACLU referenced a capacity figure of 1,256 people and described a $39 million letter contract prepared for the site — figures that came from documents predating the July 13 announcement, so we note them here only as part of the paper trail, not as the operative contract terms. The facility owner is identified in the ACLU report as Highlands REIT.

There is one timing detail worth understanding. The contract announcement came just two days before the ACLU of Colorado published a lengthy independent report on how GEO already runs immigration detention in Colorado — at its existing facility in Aurora. That report is essential context for anyone trying to understand what the Hudson expansion could mean, and we walk through it below.

Map showing Hudson, Colorado in Weld County approximately 45 miles northeast of Denver and Aurora, where the GEO ICE detention facility is located.
Hudson, Colorado, site of the Big Horn Correctional Facility, sits roughly 45 miles northeast of Aurora.

Who Is The GEO Group?

The GEO Group is one of the largest private prison and immigration-detention operators in the United States. According to GEO's own year-end earnings report, the company reported $2.6 billion in revenue for full-year 2025 (an increase over the $2.42 billion it reported for 2024, the figure cited in the ACLU of Colorado report). This is not a small vendor or an untested newcomer to Colorado.

In fact, GEO already operates the only ICE detention facility listed in Colorado on ICE's own website as of the July 2026 contract announcement: the Aurora ICE Processing Center, sometimes called the Denver Contract Detention Facility. So the Hudson contract does not represent a new company arriving in the state. It represents the same operator expanding — adding a second Colorado facility to the one it has run for years.

That history matters, because GEO's record of running the Aurora facility has drawn repeated scrutiny. The ACLU of Colorado documented deaths and oversight complaints at Aurora in its 2019 report, Cashing in on Cruelty, and again in its July 2026 report. Independent journalists, a member of Congress, and civil rights organizations have all raised concerns about conditions and medical care at the Aurora facility over the years.

What the ACLU of Colorado Found (and Why It Matters Now)

On July 15, 2026, the ACLU of Colorado published a report titled Increased Incarceration; Insufficient Oversight: An Inhumane and Broken Immigration Detention System. According to the ACLU, the report is the product of an 11-month independent investigation (August 2023 through July 2024), with additional research continuing through March 2026. It documents conditions at the GEO-operated Aurora facility and places the Hudson expansion in the context of a rapidly growing national detention system.

The national picture, per the sources cited in the report. According to ICE detention statistics cited by the ACLU, ICE detention reached a record high of 68,990 people in January 2026. Of those, the ACLU reports, 33,380 had no criminal charges or convictions in the United States — meaning nearly half of the people detained were held on civil immigration violations, not crimes. An independent analysis of the same ICE data found that 92% of the growth in ICE detention in fiscal year 2026 was driven by immigrants with no criminal convictions. This is the reality behind the numbers: detention is expanding fastest among people who have committed no crime.

The Colorado picture. According to reporting by The Colorado Sun analyzing data from the UC Berkeley School of Law Deportation Data Project, ICE arrested more than 3,500 people in Colorado between January 20 and October 15, 2025. The expansion in Colorado follows a large federal funding increase for detention infrastructure that the ACLU and other sources have documented.

The death of Melvin Calero Mendoza — as alleged in an active lawsuit

The ACLU report devotes significant attention to the death of Melvin Calero Mendoza, a 39-year-old man from Nicaragua who died on October 13, 2022 while detained at the GEO Aurora facility. Novo Legal Group filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on behalf of his family — Peralta Rivera v. The GEO Group Inc et al, Case No. 2024CV31540, filed October 11, 2024. Because that lawsuit is active, everything in this section is stated as an allegation, according to the complaint or the ACLU report — not as an established fact and not as a conclusion by Novo Legal Group.

According to the complaint, Mr. Calero Mendoza entered the United States in April 2022 seeking asylum, had no criminal history, and had been detained at the Aurora facility since May 2022. According to the complaint, GEO medical staff failed to diagnose and treat a blood clot in his leg, and that clot traveled to his lungs and caused a fatal pulmonary embolism. According to the complaint, he had planned to reunite with his partner and later bring their two young children.

According to reporting by Colorado Public Radio, which obtained the 911 call placed during his medical emergency through a public-records request, the call lasted about seven minutes, and the guard initially gave the wrong address, providing the correct one only on the third attempt. We report these details because they are matters of public record and public reporting — not as Novo Legal Group's independent findings, and not as proven facts. A court has not yet decided the case.

This is not the first death the ACLU has documented at the Aurora facility. According to a federal detainee death review and the ACLU's 2019 report, Kamyar Samimi — a lawful permanent resident who had lived in the United States for roughly four decades — died at the Aurora facility in December 2017, two weeks after intake.

The ACLU's acknowledgment of Novo Legal Group

In its July 2026 report, the ACLU of Colorado acknowledged the contributions of a number of external collaborators, including attorneys from Novo Legal Group. That acknowledgment — attributed here to the ACLU of Colorado, in the ACLU's own words — reads:

We would like to specially acknowledge key partners in the production of this report, including attorneys Aaron Slade, Danielle Jefferis, and Luis Cortes Romero of Novo Legal Group. Their work to support the family of Melvin Calero Mendoza has not only helped the family get more answers regarding the untimely death of their loved one but will hopefully help them get justice for Calero Mendoza.

— ACLU of Colorado, Increased Incarceration; Insufficient Oversight (July 15, 2026)

We include this acknowledgment because it is the ACLU's own characterization of the collaboration, not ours. Novo Legal Group is listed as an external collaborator on the report. Nothing in that acknowledgment, and nothing on this page, should be read as Novo Legal Group asserting that any court has found GEO liable for anything.

What This Means for Your Family

A couple at a kitchen table reviewing documents together with expressions of concern.

The rest of this page is written for you — the person at home trying to figure out what to do. Below we cover the three questions families ask us most: whether a loved one could be transferred to Hudson, what rights people in detention generally have, and how a transfer could affect an immigration court case.

Transfer Risk — Will My Loved One Be Moved to Hudson?

Here is the honest answer: no one outside ICE can tell you with certainty whether a specific person will be transferred, and ICE is generally not required to give a family advance notice before moving someone. Transfers can happen quickly and with little warning. That is exactly why families should not wait.

Hudson sits in Weld County, roughly 45 miles northeast of Denver. A transfer from the Aurora facility to Hudson would put more distance between a detained person and their family, their attorney, and — potentially — the court handling their case. Transfers can disrupt pending immigration court hearings, interrupt contact with an attorney, and make in-person family visits harder or impossible.

The single most important step is to establish legal representation before any transfer happens. When a family already has an attorney on record, that attorney can track a transfer, re-establish contact quickly, and move to protect the person's court case. Waiting until after a transfer notice arrives means starting from behind. We cover the concrete steps in the "What You Can Do Right Now" section below.

Your Rights Regardless of Which Facility

In general, people held in ICE detention have important rights — but every situation is different, and you should speak with an attorney about the specific circumstances of your loved one's case. The following is general information, not legal advice, and no list can capture every exception or every fact-specific limitation. With that firmly in mind, people in immigration detention generally have:

  • The right to contact an attorney. People in detention generally have the right to seek and speak with legal counsel, though they are not provided a government-appointed attorney the way criminal defendants are.
  • The right to seek a bond hearing in many circumstances. Whether a person is eligible for release on bond depends on their immigration history and other case-specific factors, and eligibility is not guaranteed.
  • The right to receive mail and to communicate, generally subject to facility rules.
  • The right to access medical care under applicable detention standards.

We list these as rights the community should know exist — not as guarantees about any one person's case. If you have been told your loved one "has no rights," get a second opinion, and get it quickly.

Immigration Court Implications

This section is general and heavily fact-dependent. Venue and jurisdiction questions after a detention transfer are complicated, they vary case by case, and the answers can change. Please treat what follows as background only, and speak with an attorney about your loved one's specific situation before relying on any of it.

When a person is transferred between detention facilities, it can raise questions about which immigration court handles their removal proceedings and where. A transfer can, in some circumstances, affect the assigned court or the logistics of appearing. Whether a transfer from Aurora to Hudson would keep a case with the Denver Immigration Court or result in a different venue assignment is a fact-specific question that depends on factors an attorney would need to review — and we are not able to state a categorical answer here that would be reliable for every case.

What families can do, regardless of the legal complexity, is document everything now, before any transfer: the person's full name and A-number (alien registration number), the current facility, the case number, the assigned court, and every scheduled hearing date. Having that information ready lets an attorney act fast if a transfer happens. Missing a hearing because of a transfer can have serious consequences, so this documentation is not busywork — it is protection.

Immigration Implications

Immigration detention is civil, not criminal. Being detained by ICE is not the same as being convicted of a crime — and, as the data above shows, most people in ICE detention have no criminal convictions at all. But the immigration consequences of detention and removal proceedings can be severe, and the stakes are high for people across every immigration status. Because those consequences differ dramatically depending on a person's status, we break them down below.

Green Card Holders (Lawful Permanent Residents)

A lawful permanent resident can, in some circumstances, be placed in removal proceedings and detained — for example, based on certain criminal history, alleged status violations, or other inadmissibility or removability grounds. Green card status is not an absolute shield against detention, though many green card holders have strong defenses to removal and may be eligible for release on bond. The analysis is highly fact-specific, and a green card holder in detention should have an attorney review their case as early as possible. Speak with an attorney about the specific facts.

DACA Recipients

DACA recipients occupy a particularly uncertain position. DACA provides temporary protection from removal, but it is discretionary and can be affected by criminal issues or changes in policy. A DACA recipient who is detained needs immediate legal review to understand how their protection applies to their situation and what options exist. This is general information only — every DACA case turns on its own facts.

Visa Holders

People in the United States on a visa can face detention if their status is questioned or alleged to be violated, and detention can affect the ability to maintain, renew, or adjust status. The specific consequences depend on the visa category and the underlying facts. A visa holder in detention should consult an attorney promptly.

Undocumented Individuals

People without lawful status face the highest exposure to detention and removal, but "undocumented" does not mean "without options." Many people who lack status still have legal defenses to removal — including asylum, withholding of removal, cancellation of removal, and relief tied to family or humanitarian circumstances — and may be eligible for release. Whether any of these applies is entirely fact-specific and requires an attorney's review. No one should assume a case is hopeless without a real legal analysis.

Asylum Seekers Specifically

For people seeking asylum, detention can affect access to and timing of the credible-fear process and other steps in an asylum claim. Detention can make it harder to gather evidence, contact witnesses, and prepare — which is precisely why representation matters so much for detained asylum seekers. If your loved one entered seeking asylum, an attorney can explain how detention interacts with their claim.

Detention conditions themselves can affect due process. When it is hard to reach an attorney, gather documents, or communicate, a person's ability to defend their case suffers. That is one more reason families should move quickly to establish representation — and one more reason conditions at facilities like the one coming to Hudson matter to every family with a loved one in custody. For readers who want to understand the removal-defense side in more depth, see our page on deportation defense representation.

What Novo Legal Group Is Doing

Novo Legal Group is listed as an external collaborator on the ACLU of Colorado's July 2026 report, and our firm represents the family of Melvin Calero Mendoza in the wrongful-death lawsuit described above. As a general matter of describing our practice: we brought that case on behalf of a grieving family, and it is ongoing. We do not, on this page or anywhere else, assert that a court has found GEO responsible — that is for the court to decide, and the case is still being litigated.

This work is part of who we are. Novo Legal Group is a Spanish-first immigration and civil rights firm, and we bring criminal-defense, immigration, and civil-rights advocacy together because the people we serve rarely face just one kind of problem. Our civil rights practice fights back when the government or a powerful institution crosses the line — and detention conditions in Colorado are squarely within that fight. When families come to us frightened that a loved one will disappear into a system built to move people quickly and quietly, we treat that fear as the emergency it is.

We cannot promise any particular outcome in any case — no honest lawyer can. What we can promise is that we will take your family seriously, answer your questions in the language you are most comfortable in, and fight for the people you love as if they were our own.

Protect Your Family — Schedule a Consultation.

If your loved one is detained or you fear a transfer, do not wait. Call Novo Legal Group at (888) 746-5245 or schedule a consultation online. Our team answers in English and Spanish.

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What You Can Do Right Now

A woman at a kitchen table on the phone with a notebook nearby, taking notes in a black-and-white photograph.

If someone you love is in ICE custody, here are the steps that matter most. Do them in order, and do them soon.

  1. Find out exactly where your loved one is detained. Use the federal ICE detainee locator to confirm their location. You will generally need their full name and country of birth, or their A-number (alien registration number). Visit locator.ice.gov/odls/ — note that the site uses bot-protection and may require a real browser to access.
  2. Document the case details before anything changes. Write down the person's full name, A-number, the current facility, the assigned immigration court, the case number, and every scheduled hearing date. This is the information an attorney needs to act fast — especially if a transfer happens.
  3. Contact an attorney before any transfer notice arrives. Establishing representation early is the single most protective thing a family can do. An attorney on record can track a transfer, re-establish contact, and move to protect the court case. Waiting until after a transfer means starting from behind.
  4. Know that silence from ICE does not mean safety. Families sometimes assume that no news is good news. With detention, that is not a safe assumption — transfers can happen quickly and without advance warning to the family. Prepare now rather than react later.

If ICE is withholding information about your loved one and time is running out, you may be able to file a FOIA request with ICE to force disclosure of records — our page on ICE records delays explains how that works and when it helps.

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Call Novo Legal Group at (888) 746-5245 or schedule a consultation online. English and Spanish, every call.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Hudson/Big Horn facility open yet?

As of the publication of this page, the five-year contract for the Big Horn Correctional Facility in Hudson was announced on July 13, 2026, according to GEO Group. Publicly available documents reviewed by the ACLU of Colorado suggested plans to begin ramping up operations, but most specific timeline details were redacted, and we are not aware of a confirmed public opening date. Because this situation is developing, contact Novo Legal Group at (888) 746-5245 for the most current information.

Can ICE transfer my family member without telling me?

Generally, ICE is not required to give a family advance notice before transferring a detained person between facilities, and transfers can happen quickly. That is why establishing legal representation early matters so much — an attorney on record is in a far better position to track a transfer and re-establish contact than a family learning about it after the fact. Speak with an attorney about your specific situation.

What happens to my loved one's court case if they are transferred?

A transfer can raise fact-specific questions about which immigration court handles the case and where hearings take place. There is no single answer that applies to every case, and the details depend on circumstances an attorney would need to review. The most important thing families can do is document the current case number, assigned court, and all hearing dates now — before any transfer — and get an attorney involved early. Do not rely on general information here for your specific case; consult an attorney.

What is GEO Group's record in Colorado?

According to the ACLU of Colorado's reports (2019 and July 2026) and independent news reporting, GEO's operation of the Aurora immigration detention facility has been the subject of documented deaths, medical-care concerns, and oversight complaints over a period of years. Novo Legal Group represents the family of one man who died there in an active wrongful-death lawsuit; because that case is ongoing, we describe those events strictly as allegations and as findings reported by others — not as conclusions Novo Legal Group has independently proven or that any court has decided. For the underlying details, see the ACLU of Colorado report linked in Resources below.

How can Novo Legal Group help?

Novo Legal Group is a Spanish-first immigration and civil rights firm in Colorado. We help families understand where a detained loved one is, protect a person's immigration court case, pursue bond and release options where they exist, and stand up against unlawful conditions and government overreach. We cannot promise any specific outcome, but we can promise that we will take your family seriously and fight for them. Call Novo Legal Group now at (888) 746-5245 or schedule a consultation.

Why Novo Legal Group

When a loved one is detained, most families do not need a lecture about the law — they need someone who will pick up the phone, tell them the truth, and get to work. That is what we do. Novo Legal Group is a Spanish-first immigration and civil rights firm, rooted in Colorado, and every attorney and staff member is bilingual. You will never be handed off to a translator or made to feel like a case number.

We frame detention through a rights lens because that is what it is: people have rights, and we enforce them. We bring immigration defense and civil-rights advocacy together because the families we serve rarely face just one problem at a time. And we do not write cases off. When other firms shrug, we look harder. If someone has told you your loved one's situation is hopeless, talk to us before you believe it.

Resources and Additional Reading

Official and independent sources:

  • ACLU of Colorado report — Increased Incarceration; Insufficient Oversight: An Inhumane and Broken Immigration Detention System (July 15, 2026): aclu-co.org/publications/increased-incarceration-insufficient-oversight/
  • ICE detainee locator — find where a person is detained: locator.ice.gov/odls/ (uses bot-protection; open in a real browser)
  • Wrongful-death complaint — Peralta Rivera v. The GEO Group Inc et al, Case No. 2024CV31540. [Attorney to confirm at 05b whether the PDF link here should remain during active litigation — see attorney Flag E. If attorney declines, replace with: "is a matter of public court record in Colorado district court."]

From Novo Legal Group:

RESOURCES FROM OUR BLOG

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