NEW YORK, NY – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and ACLU of Colorado Monday said they sued Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for failure to answer a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request about ICE’s potential expansion of immigration detention centers in Colorado and Wyoming.
According to the ACLU, the FOIA request was submitted in March 2025, following ICE’s solicitation of contract proposals to “identify possible detention facilities” across western states.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, “comes on the heels of reports earlier this month that the Trump administration has sought proposals for up to $45 billion to expand immigrant detention across the country,” said the ACLU.
The litigation demands ICE furnish requested records to the ACLU, with the purpose of revealing details to the public and not allowing operations to remain unchecked, said the ACLU.
“We refuse to allow ICE and other federal agencies to hide their work from the public,” said Tim MacDonald, ACLU of Colorado Legal Director.
“ICE has taken aggressive steps to expand immigration detention at an unprecedented rate in service of President Trump’s campaign promise to tear apart families and deport immigrants who contribute to our communities and our economy.” – Eunice Cho, ACLU’s National Prison Project
As reported by the ACLU, Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at ACLU’s National Prison Project, stated, “ICE has taken aggressive steps to expand immigration detention at an unprecedented rate in service of President Trump’s campaign promise to tear apart families and deport immigrants who contribute to our communities and our economy.”
Cho continued, according to the ACLU, “…the public has the right to know how their taxpayer dollars are being misused in service of this dystopian agenda.”
Private detention companies like GEO Group, Inc. view the Trump administration’s agenda as an “unprecedented opportunity,” following a significant increase in their profits since the 2024 presidential election, reported by the ACLU.
Immigrants’ rights advocates and others advise federal agencies to decline contracts with corporations that profit from detention and deportation, said the ACLU.
According to the complaint filed by the ACLU, “the FOIA statute requires federal agencies…to disclose records within 20 working days in response to FOIA requests. More than 30 working days have passed since Plaintiffs filed the Request. To date, ICE has neither released responsive records nor explained its basis for withholding them.”
