By Quentin Young | editor
“This new facility will not only nearly double the number of detention beds, but is in a rural location, far from the organizations that offer resources and oversight.”
- Sen. Michael Bennet, on a proposed new ICE detention center in Hudson
Demonstrators protest against potential new immigrant detention centers in Colorado outside the Hudson Correctional Facility on Sept. 13, 2025. (Photo by Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)
By Chase Woodruff
A dormant, privately-owned prison in Hudson is set to become Colorado’s second Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detention center, The GEO Group, a private prison company, announced Monday. The Big Horn Correctional Facility has been eyed by ICE officials to expand Colorado’s immigrant detention capacity since last year, and documents obtained by the ACLU previously showed the facility was under contract to operate as a new detention center. Monday’s announcement by The GEO Group is the company’s first public confirmation of those plans.
Volunteers at the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s office process ballots during the Colorado primary election on June 30, 2026. (Photo by Andrew Fraieli/Colorado Newsline)
By Sara Wilson
Turnout in the recent Colorado primary election, with executive-level offices up for grabs and a competitive congressional primary, was 10 percentage points higher than in 2024. As of Monday, turnout for the June 30 primary was around 35.9% of active voters, compared with 25.5% in the 2024 primary election, according to the secretary of state’s office. In 2022, the most recent midterm year, the turnout was about 32%.
View of damage from the Arkansas River flood at the Union Depot rail yard in Pueblo in 1921. Denver and Rio Grande Western passenger cars are near the passenger platform. Damaged cars are turned over and logs and lumber are scattered across the rail yard. (Courtesy of Denver Public Library Special Collections, Z-5027)
FIFTY FOR 150
By Sara Wilson
During the evening of June 3, 1921, and into the next morning, the business district in Pueblo was engulfed in raging flood waters after significant rain, cloud bursts and snowmelt caused Fountain Creek to swell and ultimately break through the Arkansas River levees. The result was one of the most destructive and deadly floods in Colorado history, lasting three days and forever altering Pueblo’s infrastructure. The high water mark at Union Depot was around 10 feet, and some downtown businesses reported being more than 13 feet underwater. Bodies washed up downstream for years and many went unidentified.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Housing bill becomes law without Trump’s signature | By Jacob Fischler
Commentary: Unfit judge could erode justice for all Coloradans | By Quentin Young
Trump guts election commission in move seen as increasing his sway over midterms | By David Lightman
DOJ letter an attempt to intimidate, Colorado’s top election official says | By Lindsey Toomer
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