Just days after the passage of President Trump's budget bill allocating $45 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to expand detention facilities, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado made public documents submitted by private prison operators seeking to sign contracts with the federal government. The ACLU says the government provided the documents in response to its lawsuit filed in April.

The Trump administration says it plans to build capacity for 100,000 ICE detention beds nationwide.

Locations offered for new ICE detention centers in Colorado include Walsenberg, Colorado Springs, Hudson, and La Junta. 

"We sued the federal government because they were hiding these documents about their intent to expand ICE detention in Colorado. Because of the lawsuit, they've now provided at least some of these documents, and it provides important transparency for the people of Colorado," said Tim Macdonald, legal director at ACLU of Colorado.

A spokesman for ICE said, "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's enhanced enforcement operations and routine daily operations have resulted in a significant number of arrests of criminal aliens that require greater detention capacity. While we cannot confirm individual pre-decisional conversations, we can confirm that ICE is exploring all options to meet its current and future detention requirements."

GEO, which already operates the Aurora ICE Processing Facility, is proposing adding 128 more beds at its Aurora facility (currently with 1360 beds) and 700 more at its Cheyenne Mountain Center. The GEO proposal states, "The GEO-owned and operated Cheyenne Mountain Center is located in Colorado Springs, and strategically situated close to all necessary facility and detainee support services."

The company CoreCivic states, "We propose our Huerfano County Correctional Center (HCCC) in Walsenberg, Colorado…the facility could be used as a dedicated ICE facility…is currently vacant and can begin a staged ramp 120 days after contract commencement." The Huerfano facility currently has a capacity for 752 beds.

Ryan Gustin, senior director of public affairs for CoreCivic, provided a statement to CBS Colorado saying, "For 40 years, we've partnered with ICE and its predecessor to make sure those in our care receive humane, dignified and respectful treatment while they go through the legal process."

The real estate investment trust Highlands REIT offered the Hudson Correctional Facility in Hudson, which it owns. The Baptiste Group offered facilities it owns in La Junta and Colorado Springs. Other contractors responding to the solicitation include BHPE LLC, a private equity firm, and Apex Site Services, saying its expertise is in "complex temporary and semi-permanent infrastructure solutions." 

In February, ICE issued a Request for Information, seeking contract proposals to "identify possible detention facilities" in areas covered by the Denver Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) Field Office. The ACLU says a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request it submitted in March for details about the proposals went unanswered, prompting the organization to file suit. 

"The people of Colorado should know both what's happening at the GEO detention facility right here in Colorado today, as well as what their plans are to expand this for-profit, cruel detention system they have," said Macdonald. "There's very very little employment associated with these detention facilities for the very reason that these are for-profit companies trying to minimize their costs, pay the lowest wages they can, utilize the labor of the folks that are being detained, so these are not great job generators. They're inhumane, they're cruel, and the people of Colorado don't want them, and they certainly don't want them expanding."

"Private prison companies like GEO are profiting from the pain of immigrant families, turning human suffering into a business model," said Nicole Cervera Loy, Policy & Campaigns Manager with the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. "ICE's expansion of detention beds isn't about safety, it's about profit and power, and Colorado should not be complicit. No corporation should enrich itself by separating children from parents or locking up neighbors in cages. We demand an immediate end to Colorado's collaboration with ICE and a total rejection of this cruel, for-profit system."

In a previous interview with CBS News, ICE said its effort to target a "massive backlog of illegal criminal aliens and public safety threats from the United States" has led to "a significant number of arrests, requiring greater detention capacity."

"ICE is implementing various options to meet its current and future detention needs, but more space for apprehended illegal aliens is needed as they await deportation," ICE added. 

You can view those documents the ACLU of Colorado obtained here: