By Quentin Young | editor
“The fact is, GEO is not cooperative, and so we have an incident here. There could be other incidents down the road.”
— Mike Coffman, mayor of Aurora, on the operator of a local ICE detention center, where a case of tuberculosis was confirmed
Greg Lopez, then a Republican candidate for Colorado governor, attends the Western Conservative Summit in Aurora on June 4, 2022. He will be on the 2026 ballot as an unaffiliated candidate for governor. (Photo by Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)
By Lindsey Toomer
Former U.S. Rep. Greg Lopez will be on the ballot as an unaffiliated candidate for Colorado governor in November. The former Republican, who spent six months representing Colorado’s 4th Congressional District in Congress in 2024, has run for governor twice before, losing in primary elections in both 2018 and 2022. The secretary of state’s office announced Tuesday that Lopez submitted a sufficient number of signatures to appear on the November ballot. He’ll face Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser and Republican Victor Marx.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora, operated by private prison firm GEO Group, is pictured on Jan. 30, 2025. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)
Aurora council insists on cooperation from GEO Group over tuberculosis investigation at ICE facility
By Sara Wilson
The Aurora City Council approved a statement Monday that demands the private company that runs the immigration detention center in the city cooperate with public health officials in an investigation of a tuberculosis case. The Adams County Health Department issued a public health order in late June to investigate a confirmed case of tuberculosis in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center run by GEO. Since then, despite pressure from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and other state officials, GEO has not granted access or given Adams County the information it needs to conduct a public health investigation into the case, as required by state law.
The exterior of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Johnston, Rhode Island. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
By Ariana Figueroa
Federal asylum officers can deny interviews to asylum seekers and send them immediately to an immigration judge, speeding up deportation proceedings, under a rule U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published Tuesday. The rule, which takes effect immediately, will allow USCIS, a Department of Homeland Security agency, to refer directly to immigration judges certain asylum cases — such as noncitizens who are not yet in deportation proceedings and are proactively seeking asylum — without first conducting an interview or including a referral letter to the judge regarding the applicant’s credibility.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
How Colorado will celebrate its 150th birthday on Aug. 1 | By Chase Woodruff
Fifty for 150: Colorado State Fair incorporated in Pueblo in 1886 | By Sara Wilson
Yes, breathing wildfire smoke can harm your health | By Colleen E. Reid
Flood of poll watchers, observers, monitors to descend on midterm voters | By David Lightman
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