The Colorado attorney general has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state's public health department seeking to force the company that runs the Aurora ICE Processing Center to comply with a tuberculosis investigation.The lawsuit comes after state health officials issued an order last week demanding the Aurora ICE Processing Center turn over tuberculosis records the state says the facility has withheld for nearly two months after a detainee tested positive for the disease in June. GEO Group had until Monday to comply with the order and failed to do so, according to the suit.The suit claims the company has "prevented [Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment] and local public health agencies from performing any meaningful and statutorily required disease investigation and control.""Colorado is therefore flying in the dark when it comes to a contagious and deadly infectious disease within its borders," CDPHE claims in the suit. "Just-take-our-word-for-it is not a viable public health response to such a disease."Read Denver7's previous coverage below: Colorado health officials order Aurora ICE Processing Center to hand over tuberculosis records State health dept gives GEO Group until Friday to allow tuberculosis investigation at Aurora ICE facility CDPHE fields questions about Aurora ICE facility TB investigation as groups demand more state action Health officials confirm TB case at Aurora ICE facility; ICE says person has been 'removed from the county'After a late June order from Adams County Public Health, the company provided "some information, such as staff and detainee lists," and began attending weekly calls with the Adams County Health Department to monitor the case, according to the court filing.GEO Group stopped communicating directly with Adams County Health Department and stopped attending the meetings around July 1, requesting all further communication to go through the company's lawyers, according to the suit."These communications did not result in the production of any meaningful information," the filing states.According to the lawsuit, the company provided no information about the infected detainee's medical history, how many people in the facility had been in contact with that detainee, whether those people had been tested for TB and whether contact tracing was occurring.State health officials issued a letter to the facility July 14, and the governor's office made two additional requests on July 17 and July 20, according to the suit and previous Denver7 reporting. State officials continued to try to gain more information over the next several weeks."In response, state officials received no meaningful information that would allow CDPHE to conduct its disease control duties," the suit claims.After the GEO Group's "persistent stonewalling," state health officials issued a public health order Aug. 13, per the filing.The company has historically worked with public health officials to provide access to the facility for disease control investigations, according to the suit."We are disappointed that GEOs refusal to comply has made legal action necessary, particularly because Colorado public health officials have successfully collaborated with GEO on communicable disease investigations in the past," a CDPHE spokesperson said in a statement to Denver7. "We remain ready to work collaboratively, but cooperation requires GEO to provide information required by law. We hope this action results in prompt compliance so public health officials can successfully complete the investigation and ensure that anyone who may have been exposed receives appropriate notification, testing and follow-up care."GEO Group did not respond to Denver7's request for comment by the time of publication, but ICE officials have previously claimed that there are no active cases of TB at the facility and that the person who tested positive in June has since been "treated, cleared, and removed from the country.""Even if true, this does not end the public health emergency," the state's court filing claims "If anything, it makes the need to obtain information from the facility even more pressing, because CDPHEs ability to conduct its investigation only becomes harder with the passage of time."TB is an airborne and potentially fatal disease that can cause severe lung damage and can spread to other organs, according to health officials. It is curable with treatment, but "may result in permanent disability or death" if left untreated, health officials have said."Prompt identification of exposed individuals is critical to preventing additional illness," officials said in a previous release about the TB case at the Aurora ICE facility.Health officials' inability to properly conduct an investigation endangers detainees, staff and the general public, according to the suit.The GEO Group is endangering Coloradans public health by refusing to follow the state health departments order and by violating Colorado law," Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement. "This law keeps our residents safe and enables the health department to take necessary measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases like tuberculosis. We will continue to defend Colorado law and ensure that no company flouts our public health and safety laws.Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement he is "hopeful the courts will ensure that local public health officials get the information needed to protect public health."The State and public health officials simply want to conduct a routine public health investigation to protect the health of our fellow Coloradans and GEOs consistent lack of transparency has kept that from happening," he said in the statement.This is a developing story that may be updated. ...read more read less