A sleepy Colorado farm town that voted overwhelmingly for President Donald Trump has become ground zero in the national fight over immigration and a flashpoint in the battle for the U.S. House.
Hudson, a one-stoplight town 45 minutes from Denver, is set to house the Big Horn detention center inside a shuttered prison on its edge. Run by private prison giant The GEO Group under a $529 million contract, the facility could hold up to 1,200 detainees and nearly double Colorado’s immigrant detention capacity when it opens as early as next month.
The prison sits on the border of Colorado’s Eighth Congressional District, held by Rep. Gabe Evans, a Trump ally and one of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress, whose district office in Greeley has drawn protests. Evans supports immigration detention centers, and his Democratic challenger, state lawmaker Manny Rutinel, is running on a pledge to “stop ICE from terrorizing our communities.”
Democrats are betting that anger over Trump’s deportation campaign and the cost of living can flip the seat and help them retake the House.
Protesters have bused in from Denver to pack town meetings, shouting “Shame!” “You’re Nazis!” and waving anti-ICE signs. Meanwhile, many locals welcome the jobs and the enforcement, The New York Times reported Friday. Kerry Shaklee, a longtime resident and member of the town’s planning commission, called the center a “travesty.”
“These people don’t pay taxes here,” Tracy Trevarton, a Hudson resident, told the newspaper. “We can’t even get in here and conduct our own business. It’s tearing our town apart.”
“It’s against every fiber of my being,” Barbara Mills-Bria, a retired engineer who drove from suburban Denver to a raucous council meeting on Wednesday, told the Times.
Town Manager Bryce Lange has said the privately owned prison was approved by voters years ago and still holds a certificate of occupancy. Opponents disagree. Last month, a faith group and a neighbor sued the town, arguing the site isn’t zoned for a detention center and could strain water, roads and emergency services 12 miles from the nearest hospital.
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