ICE's own fiscal-year average, not a bed count and not a point-in-time headcount.
Average of that population convicted or with pending charges
294.5
ICE's classification, reproduced as published. This is an ICE administrative classification. Pending charges are not convictions, and this field is not population-level crime-rate evidence.
Average length of stay
50.7 days
Guaranteed minimum
600
A population level a contract treats as guaranteed. The workbook prints the number, not the price.
70CDCR25FR0000111 · Recorded as of August 20, 2026
A
Accountability dossier
The DHS inspector general inspected the Aurora facility unannounced in 2024. ICE's own oversight division inspected it in 2023 and again in 2024. ICE has disclosed a death of a person held here, and a certified class action over the facility's detainee work program remains open on the federal docket.
Complete dossier · Last reviewed August 20, 2026
Identity, roles, population, two ICE inspections, an inspector general inspection, open litigation and a disclosed death are sourced to primary records.
Evidence chain · every edge labelled by what the record establishes
01
Public money
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — appropriated detention funding
The DHS inspector general's 2024 report on the unannounced inspection describes the Aurora site as operated by GEO Group, and the federal work-program class action names GEO Group as the operator defendant.
What this does not establish
Operation on the dates these sources describe does not establish ownership, present-day operation, or responsibility for any documented condition.
Money, population, inspections, litigation and harm on one calendar
The facility record beside the money record
Lanes are shown side by side because they share a facility and a calendar, not a cause. Chronological proximity does not establish causation.
Only dated events are plotted. Records carrying an as-of or dataset-cutoff date, such as ICE’s fiscal-year population aggregates, are listed in the table instead, because a data-pull date is not the date something happened.
Select or focus a marker to read the underlying record. Every marker below is also listed in the table.
Facility evidence records by date, lane, evidence status and source.
Date
Lane
Record
Status
Oct 22, 2014
Litigation and corrective action
Menocal v. The GEO Group: class action over the detainee work programA federal class action filed in October 2014 challenges the detainee work program at the Aurora facility. The docket records no termination date as of the retrieval date.U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado (via CourtListener)
Allegation
Dec 04, 2017
Observed and attributed harm
Death disclosed by ICE, December 2017ICE disclosed that a person detained at the Aurora facility died at a Denver-area hospital.U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Observed / verified
Mar 16, 2023
Inspections and oversight
ICE compliance inspection, March 14-16, 2023ICE's Office of Detention Oversight inspected the same facility a year earlier under a separate numbered report.ICE Office of Detention Oversight
Attributed finding
Feb 15, 2024
Inspections and oversight
ICE unannounced compliance inspection, February 13-15, 2024ICE's Office of Detention Oversight conducted an unannounced compliance inspection of the facility against the detention standards.ICE Office of Detention Oversight
Attributed finding
Jun 12, 2024
Inspections and oversight
Inspector general: results of an unannounced inspectionThe DHS inspector general published findings from an unannounced inspection of the Aurora facility, including a recommendation that ICE ensure detainee requests receive timely and understandable responses.DHS Office of Inspector General
Fiscal 2026 average daily populationICE reports this facility's average daily population for fiscal 2026 in its detention-management workbook. It is a fiscal-year average, not a bed count and not a headcount on any given day.U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Observed / verified
As of Jul 20, 2026
Population and capacity
Fiscal 2026 average length of stayICE reports the average number of days people spent in custody at this facility in fiscal 2026.U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Observed / verified
As of Jul 20, 2026
Population and capacity
Contracted guaranteed minimumICE's workbook prints a guaranteed minimum population level for this facility. The workbook prints the number; it does not print the price attached to it.U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Observed / verified
D
Inspections, findings and litigation
An ICE compliance rating records the agency's own determination against its detention standards on the inspection dates. It does not establish that no harm or deficiency occurred.
October 22, 2014 · Litigation and corrective actionAllegation
Menocal v. The GEO Group: class action over the detainee work program
A federal class action filed in October 2014 challenges the detainee work program at the Aurora facility. The docket records no termination date as of the retrieval date.
Locator
No. 1:14-cv-02887 (D. Colo.)
Procedural status
Open on the docket; no termination date recorded as of August 20, 2026
Linked to this facility by
The docket caption and pleadings concern the Aurora, Colorado facility.
What this does not establish
Class certification establishes that claims may proceed together. It does not establish that the allegations are true.
June 12, 2024 · Inspections and oversightAttributed finding
Inspector general: results of an unannounced inspection
The DHS inspector general published findings from an unannounced inspection of the Aurora facility, including a recommendation that ICE ensure detainee requests receive timely and understandable responses.
Locator
OIG-24-29
Linked to this facility by
The report names the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora in its title.
What this does not establish
The report records what inspectors found on the inspection dates. It does not establish present conditions or a causal link to any contract action.
Federal and agency inspectors examined this facility on dated visits in 2023 and 2024 and published numbered reports.
A class action over the facility's detainee work program has been open on the federal docket since 2014.
ICE has disclosed a death of a person detained here.
ICE reports a fiscal 2026 average daily population and average length of stay for this facility.
What this does not establish
That the 2025 GEO order or any of its modifications caused any documented condition or the disclosed death.
That the work-program allegations are established facts.
That inspection findings describe the facility as it operates today.
Any judgment about safety. Neither the inspector general nor ICE issues one, and this project does not manufacture one.
Reviewed name matches
Aurora ICE Processing Center — ICE's 2024 inspection report gives the facility's location as Aurora, Colorado while its 2023 report of the same facility gives Denver; the ICE workbook records an Aurora address for the Denver Contract Detention Facility.
G
Open research questions
These are the gaps the reviewed record set names. A question listed here is unanswered, not answered in the facility's favour, and this list does not claim to cover everything unknown about the facility.
No civil rights memorandum found in the published DHS collection
Searched — nothing released
On the search date, the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties published collection contained no investigation or recommendation memorandum naming this facility. This is a search result, not an event, so it is not plotted on the timeline and not counted as legal evidence. Locator: CRCL recommendation and investigation memoranda collection.
Collection searched · August 20, 2026 · not an event date
What this does not establish
Absence from the published collection does not establish that no complaint was filed, investigated, or substantiated. CRCL does not publish every memorandum.
These are company-wide records. They are not allocated to this facility and do not establish that political activity caused any award or facility decision.