What’s going on between Pueblo Airport and Ice?
By J. Castaña
Thankfully the answer is ‘not much yet’—but that might change.
Last month, the City of Pueblo’s Director of Aviation Greg Pedroza emailed to the city administration of Walsenburg. He asked about contact information for Immigrations and Custom Enforcement (ICE), apparently hoping to set up a contract for Pueblo Memorial Airport to service ICE deportation flights. The email was brief and businesslike, and read in full:
“I am Greg Pedroza, Director of the Pueblo Airport. I am reaching out to you on behalf of our airfield partners, Freeman Jet Center. They provide jet fueling and aircraft handling at KPUB. They manage multiple jet centers across the US and service the ICE deportation flights in other communities. I am hoping you may have a contact with the detention center in Walsenburg who can speak to Freeman Jet Center management to propose Pueblo Airport to provide service to these flights, if needed. If they would prefer, you can give them our contacts for Freeman leadership.”
Pedroza reached out to Walsenburg because ICE has entered a contract with CoreCivic, owners of the privately-run Huerfano County Correctional Center. Work has begun on refurbishing the facility, which had been closed since the 2010s, as an ICE Detention Center with several hundred beds. This is part of the ICE strategic goal of detaining up to 100,000 immigrants at a time, country-wide.
According to a contact with the city, it is “unlikely” that Pedroza was instructed to look into this by the mayor, city council, or other elected official.
As Director of Aviation, part of his job is finding business opportunities to bring private and government contracts to the Pueblo Memorial Airport. After a contract has been offered, it must be presented to and approved by the Airport Advisory Committee, the Mayor’s Office, and then finally Pueblo City Council, before the contract can be signed. Pedroza does not have the unilateral authority to enter into a contract with anyone on behalf of the city.
Based on the statements made following an inquiry by City Councilmember Dennis Flores (At Large) in the work session last Monday, October 6, it seems that most if not all city officials were unaware that Pedroza had made this inquiry at all. Flores asked the mayor and her staff if anybody knew of this, and they confirmed that they did not.
“We can have Greg from the airport come and give an update,” said Mayor Heather Graham. “There was an inquiry from Freeman Jet Center about getting them in contact with Walsenburg. That’s about the extent that we know. That’s all the information that we have.”
Pedroza’s actions were, at the very least, unwise. Because of his September 4 email rumors have begun to spread across Pueblo that the airport might start servicing ICE detention flights. Even if a contract has been offered already — which, while we don’t know if one has, it’s unlikely, given the quick turnaround — it would still have to go through a lengthy political process. But the possibility alone is concerning.
Not only has ICE seriously overstepped since the beginning of the second Trump administration, violating the civil rights of dozens of American residents and citizens and allegedly assailing hundreds if not thousands more, this contract may even be illegal under current Colorado state law. Since 2023, it has been illegal in Colorado for state or local government to enter certain types of contracts with ICE. While privately-owned facilities like the detention center in Huerfano County aren’t covered by this legislation, it’s unclear yet if the Pueblo Memorial Airport — which is owned and operated by the city — would be.
It’s as important as ever that Puebloans make their voices heard to our city leadership, who meet on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month.