U.S. Representative Jason Crow, a Democrat from Centennial, said Sunday that he had been denied entry to an immigration detention center in his district in violation of federal law.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora, operated by private prison company GEO Group, is the only such facility in Colorado. Despite federal law guaranteeing members of Congress the right to enter ICE facilities “for the purpose of conducting oversight,” Crow’s office said Sunday that he had been “unlawfully denied access.”

“Providing oversight is critical to my job in Congress,” Crow said in a statement. “The law is clear that Members of Congress have the legal right to conduct unannounced oversight of federal detention facilities.”

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Oversight visits by members of Congress have become a flashpoint in 2025 as President Donald Trump’s administration dramatically expands the scope of ICE detention and removal operations to achieve its mass deportation targets. One Democratic House member, Representative LaMonica McIver of New Jersey, has been charged with interfering with federal law enforcement officers during a chaotic scene outside an ICE facility in Newark, during which officers also arrested the city’s mayor, Ras Baraka, on a trespassing charge.

The Department of Homeland Security has publicly instructed members of Congress to request visits to ICE detention centers a week ahead of time. Federal law, however, doesn’t permit the department to impose such conditions.

“Nothing in this section may be construed to require a member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility … for the purpose of conducting oversight,” states Public Law 118-47, enacted by Congress and signed into law in 2024.

“Access to ICE Processing Centers is governed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Christopher Ferreira, a GEO Group spokesperson, told Newsline in an email. “As such, we would refer you to ICE.”

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

The Aurora ICE detention center, with a total capacity of 1,532 detainees, has long been the target of criticismfrom activists over allegations of inhumane conditions and dehumanizing treatment.

Caroline Dias Goncalves, a 19-year-old Utah nursing student who was detained in the facility for 15 days last month after her arrest by ICE agents in Grand Junction, called her stay in the facility a “nightmare.” She said that detainees were forced to eat soggy food — “even the bread would come wet,” she said — and that detainees who didn’t speak English were treated worse than those who did.

Crow, who has conducted regular oversight of the ICE facility in his district since being sworn in to Congress in 2019, said that work will continue.

“Since President Trump was elected, this administration has tried to intimidate members of Congress from doing their jobs,” he said in a statement. “I will not be deterred from conducting lawful oversight. I will continue working to hold the Trump administration accountable for its actions.”