Colorado's Nine Secret ICE Hold Rooms — Hidden Detention Network
The Investigation
Colorado Times Recorder revealed in March 2026 that ICE operates nine hold rooms across Colorado — unofficial detention sites in office buildings, strip malls, and bank buildings with no external signage. Combined, these held 2,831 individuals from January to October 2025, ages 1 to 91.
The Nine Hold Rooms
| Location | Code | County | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centennial (ICE field office) | DENHOLD | Arapahoe | Busiest. Thousands detained. |
| Florence (near airport) | PUEHOLD | Fremont | 315 occupants. Third-busiest. Detainees held 12-19 days (vs 72-hour limit) |
| Colorado Springs | CSDHOLD | El Paso | Hidden in Pueblo Bank & Trust building, 415 E Pikes Peak Ave. No signage. |
| Grand Junction | — | Mesa | 299 of 311 transferred to Aurora. Busiest outside Front Range. |
| Glenwood Springs | — | Garfield | Strip mall between Midland Ave and I-70 |
| Frederick | — | Weld | |
| Craig | — | Moffat | |
| Durango | — | La Plata | |
| Alamosa | — | Alamosa |
Why This Matters
The ACLU of Colorado characterizes the planned Hudson and Walsenburg facilities as the 11th and 12th ICE detention sites in Colorado — counting these nine hold rooms as the first nine. The hold rooms operate outside the formal detention system: no IGSA agreements, no bed counts in public records, no inspections under National Detention Standards.
This is the shadow infrastructure that the heatmap’s formal signals (IGSA, 287(g), ANC contracts) cannot detect. The Colorado visitor browsing 10 counties was likely tracking this network.
Expansion Plans
Three new formal facilities would add 2,560 beds, tripling Colorado’s official ICE detention capacity:
- Big Horn/Hudson (Weld County) — 1,256 beds, GEO Group, $39M contract signed Dec 2025
- Walsenburg (Huerfano County) — 752 beds, CoreCivic, dormant Huerfano County Correctional Center
- Ignacio (La Plata County) — Southern Ute Indian Adult Detention Center
Sources
- Colorado Times Recorder: Secret ICE detention facilities exist around Colorado (March 2026)
- Colorado Times Recorder: Landlords profiting from ICE hold rooms
- Colorado Times Recorder: Denver hold room revealed — thousands detained at Centennial field office
- ACLU Colorado: Documents reveal ICE detention expansion plans
- Rocky Mountain PBS: Three new ICE detention centers planned