Trump-appointed judge blocks blue state's crackdown on ICE detention center

A Trump-appointed federal judge dealt a blow to Colorado’s effort to ramp up oversight of an ICE detention center by temporarily blocking key provisions in a state law after finding the state likely overstepped its authority.

Chief U.S.

District Judge Daniel Domenico issued the preliminary injunction Thursday, ruling that Colorado likely crossed a constitutional line in a state law by imposing new requirements specifically targeting the GEO Group’s Aurora ICE Processing Center, which operates under a federal contract and is the state's lone ICE detention center.

"Here, GEO has shown that it is singled out for a special bill that applies to no other facility," Domenico wrote.

"That other facilities might have some similar regulatory burdens does not change the fact that none of them are required to comply with HB 1276.

As GEO notes, the extent of the additional burden is irrelevant for purposes of this test." BLUE STATE’S ANTI-ICE PLEDGE COLLAPSES AS GOP WARNS OF NEW SANCTUARY ‘CONFEDERACY’ Democratic Colorado Gov.

Jared Polis signed House Bill 26-1276 into law June 4, expanding state and local oversight of immigration detention centers.

In his order, Domenico noted that GEO’s Aurora detention center was the only facility in Colorado subject to the law’s additional regulations as of May.

"And though Colorado argues that the law only brings GEO into compliance with existing state regulations applied to other detention facilities, that law singles out this one category of facility for a separately defined set of restrictions and rulemaking," Domenico wrote.

"And that is sufficient to establish that HB 1276 discriminates against GEO based on its status as a federal contractor." FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS NEW YORK LAW BANNING ICE AGENTS FROM WEARING MASKS The blocked provisions required unannounced inspections of the facility at least once every three months, and GEO was required to pay for the inspections.

The law also authorized civil penalties of up to $50,000 for each refusal to permit an inspection.

"At least some of the burdens of this bill are unique," Domenico wrote.

"The requirement of a certain number of unannounced visits, for example, does not appear elsewhere.

And the state acknowledges that the penalty scheme is not imposed on other facilities." Colorado argued that the law simply put GEO on the same footing as other private detention centers .