A Trump-appointed federal judge temporarily struck down key provisions of a Colorado law that singled out the state's only ICE detention facility for special inspections and steep fines, ruling the state likely crossed a constitutional line.
Chief U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico issued a preliminary injunction Thursday blocking the enforcement provisions of Colorado House Bill 26-1276, a law Democratic Governor Jared Polis signed on June 4. The measure expanded state and local oversight of immigration detention centers, but in practice it applied to just one place: the GEO Group's Aurora ICE Processing Center, Colorado's lone ICE detention facility. Fox News Digital reported that Domenico found the law discriminated against GEO based on its status as a federal contractor.
The ruling rested on the Constitution's supremacy clause and Supreme Court precedent holding that federal government activities must generally remain free from state regulation, protections that extend to private companies carrying out federal operations. Domenico concluded Colorado had crafted a law that imposed a unique regulatory burden on a single facility doing the federal government's work.
HB 26-1276 required unannounced inspections of the Aurora facility at least once every three months. GEO would have been forced to foot the bill for those inspections. If the company refused to allow an inspection, the state could impose civil penalties of up to $50,000 per refusal.
Colorado argued the law simply brought GEO into compliance with regulations already applied to other private detention facilities in the state. Domenico rejected that framing.
In his written order, the judge was direct:
"Here, GEO has shown that it is singled out for a special bill that applies to no other facility."
He went further, noting that while other facilities might face some similar regulatory burdens, none of them were required to comply with HB 1276. The law created "a separately defined set of restrictions and rulemaking" aimed at one category of facility. As Domenico put it, "the extent of the additional burden is irrelevant for purposes of this test."
The judge identified specific provisions that had no parallel elsewhere in Colorado law. The mandatory unannounced inspection schedule did not appear in regulations governing other facilities, and the state acknowledged that the penalty scheme was unique to this bill.
As of May, the Aurora detention center was the only facility in Colorado subject to the law's additional regulations. That fact alone undercut Colorado's argument that GEO was simply being held to the same standard as everyone else. The Aurora ICE facility has become a flashpoint in the broader national fight over immigration enforcement, and this ruling added another chapter.
The injunction did not cover every section of the law. HB 26-1276 also authorized the state to impose reporting and staffing requirements on the facility, including potential annual reports on detainees with chronic health conditions and disabilities, dietary restrictions, access to attorneys, access to spaces for worship, housing of minors, and onsite medical and mental health professionals.
Domenico declined to block those provisions, but not because he found them constitutional. Colorado told the court those requirements were not being enforced and would require a future rulemaking process that the state had no immediate plans to begin. Without active enforcement, the judge saw no need to issue an injunction against them at this stage.
The preliminary injunction is set to expire October 15, the same date GEO's existing federal contract to operate the Aurora site runs out. That timeline means the legal fight may become moot before it reaches a final resolution, unless the contract is renewed or the state takes further action.
Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser moved quickly to frame the decision as limited. In a statement Thursday, he characterized the injunction as covering just one provision of the law and leaving Colorado's existing public health authority intact.
"Today's ruling granted the GEO Group a narrow, temporary injunction against one provision of a new 2026 law, not the broad relief it sought, and leaves Colorado's existing public health and safety authority intact."
Weiser also disclosed that his office had filed a separate lawsuit against GEO the day before, on Wednesday, seeking to force the company to cooperate with a state investigation into tuberculosis at the Aurora facility. Health officials confirmed an active tuberculosis case at the center on June 22.
The state alleges GEO has failed to provide the records and cooperation needed to determine the extent of potential exposure. Weiser argued the state's authority to investigate communicable diseases predates HB 26-1276 and remains unaffected by Domenico's ruling. The Aurora facility has drawn scrutiny on multiple fronts in recent months, and the tuberculosis case adds a public health dimension to an already contentious political battle.
"Separately, our lawsuit filed yesterday seeks to enforce that existing authority and require GEO to cooperate with the state's investigation into tuberculosis at the Aurora facility, and we will continue using every available tool to protect the health and safety of Coloradans."
Fox News Digital reached out to GEO Group and Governor Polis's office for comment. Neither response was included in the reporting.
Colorado's approach fits a familiar template. Democratic-led states have repeatedly tried to use state law to obstruct, regulate, or shut down federal immigration enforcement operations within their borders. The supremacy clause exists precisely to prevent states from layering their own rules on top of federal operations in ways that interfere with national policy.
Domenico's ruling recognized the principle plainly. When a private contractor operates a facility under a federal contract, the constitutional protections that shield the federal government from state interference extend to that contractor. Colorado did not pass a general regulation applicable to all detention facilities. It passed a law aimed at one company running one facility under one federal contract, and dressed it up as routine oversight.
The broader political context in Colorado has grown increasingly contentious. Democratic candidates and officials in the state have pushed further left on immigration, and the legislature's decision to target the Aurora facility by name reflects a political environment where opposing ICE operations carries more weight than respecting federal authority.
Meanwhile, the political left continues to push for dismantling immigration enforcement altogether. Some progressive organizations have openly called for abolishing ICE, and Colorado's legislative effort, while stopping short of that demand, operates in the same political current. The state tried to impose a regulatory regime so burdensome and so narrowly targeted that it would have functioned as a de facto obstacle to federal detention operations.
Judge Domenico did not let that stand. The supremacy clause is not a suggestion. States do not get to write bespoke regulations targeting a single federal contractor and call it public safety. Colorado tried, and a federal court said no.
If Colorado's leaders want to shut down ICE operations in their state, they should say so plainly, instead of hiding behind inspection schedules and $50,000 fines designed to make federal immigration enforcement too expensive to continue.
