The Baptiste Group, a Georgia-based company that provides disaster remediation, shelter, social services, and other emergency relief services, is one of the companies proposing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Colorado Springs, according to documents released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) earlier this month. The Baptiste Group ran an emergency shelter for unaccompanied migrant minors in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which lost its license following allegations of sexual misconduct involving three staffers and several teens in 2021. A review of the ACLU documents also shows that The Baptiste Group misrepresented the condition of the Colorado Springs property in its communications to the Department of Homeland Security.
In Colorado Springs’ Palmer Park neighborhood, across the street from the Canyon Ranch Apartments, tucked in between a clinic that serves autistic children and a business park full of chiropractors, sits the empty Parkmoor Village nursing home which closed in 2022. According to the ACLU documents, The Baptiste Group “proposes the use of 3625 Parkmoor Village Dr, Colorado Springs, CO 80917 as a secure adult detention facility for low to high custody noncitizen detainees, including ICE detainees requiring medium-high to high-security housing.”
The Baptiste Group also boasted that the facility has “Advanced security systems, including surveillance cameras, controlled access, and perimeter fencing.” However, a visit to the site shows no perimeter fencing. The group floor windows are boarded up, some covered in graffiti, with broken windows on the second floor. The parking lot is now home to an abandoned boat.
According to recent reporting from KKTV, “The current owner of the building at 3625 Parkmoor Village Drive is CommuniCare. CommuniCare reached out to 11 News and tells us this building will not be an ICE detention facility and will remain a healthcare facility.”
The Baptiste Group’s business model relies on leasing facilities from other organizations and using them to secure federal contracts. In 2019 Chalkbeat reported, ”Under a $3.7 million federal grant, the Georgia-based Baptiste Group had proposed operating a residential facility and providing health and educational services until 2025 at the former South Side Middle School, which until last summer housed a state-run charter school. But Baptiste withdrew its application after Chalkbeat started asking questions about the plan.”
In 2022 a Chattanooga megachurch sued The Baptiste Group for over $123,600 unpaid rent for their Casa de Sidney facility. The lawsuit noted the contract leased the property, to the Baptiste Group for six years under the stipulation that they would pay $40,000 a month in rent in addition to a monthly fee of $1,200.
In The Baptiste Group’s proposal for Colorado Springs, they note that their program director — redacted in the documents but likely Terrance Ware — was “most recently, the Program Director of Casa de Sidney in Chattanooga, TN.”
Casa de Sidney, a former Temple University dorm, was a short-term facility for unaccompanied migrant minors. According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press:
“State inspectors were told of possible child abuse during a June 3, 2021, inspection of the facility. During that unannounced site visit, a child staying at the shelter told an inspector he saw a staff member kissing a child migrant. Chattanooga police investigated, and a police affidavit stated there had been ‘other anonymous reports’ about a staff member kissing a child in the showers. Among workers charged was Florencia Morales in a case alleging sexual battery by an authority figure. Then 22, Morales was bound over to the grand jury last year for charges related to allegedly kissing a then-17-year-old who was living at the shelter at the time. Last September, a second count of sexual battery was leveled against her after law enforcement identified a second potential juvenile victim. Chattanooga police later announced the arrest of Randi Jean Duarte on June 30, 2021, and charged the 35-year-old with sexual battery by an authority figure, coercion of a witness and tampering with evidence after allegedly kissing a minor in a shower facility and a bedroom. The Chattanooga Times Free Press also reported in March 2022 that Rebeka Perez faced one count of alleged sexual contact by an authority figure. Her case was delayed in court.”
In July 2021, a Tennessee judge suspended Casa de Sidney’s license. In the order, the judge defended the decision, saying in part “the egregiousness of this type of conduct is irrefutable.” After the closure in 2021, all the minors were moved elsewhere.
El Paso County Commissioner Carrie Geitner has expressed her support for an ICE facility in Colorado Springs. “We’re very supportive of this, as we have been very supportive of President Trump’s agenda to close the border and make sure that we are getting these folks out of our communities and keeping them safe,” she told Richard Randall during a July 11 radio appearance. “I think we are all very supportive of that.”
In addition to The Baptiste Group’s proposal, GEO, which runs the Aurora ICE facility, has proposed housing detainees at its Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center. In 2020 the facility was the subject of a lawsuit after an inmate received injuries at the privately-run prison when another prisoner fell through the ceiling during an escape attempt.
The Baptiste Group did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
