GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — The Glenwood Springs City Council voted 6-1 Thursday night to pursue legal action against the owner of a facility operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for land use code violations.

The vote came after months of pressure and investigation from community members into ICE operations at an unmarked office located at 100 Midland Ave. The motion will allow the city attorney Karl Hanlon to file a lawsuit in state court, on his recommendation, against the facility’s owner, JG Housing Solutions, LLC, a Florida-based company.

The lawsuit will argue that ICE has continued operating the facility as a detention facility, despite the revocation of its permit to do so.

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A monthslong investigative effort by the community revealed that ICE had violated the terms of the permit by holding detainees for longer than 12 hours on several occasions. The Department of Homeland Security denied such violations in a statement to the Colorado Sun, despite records obtained by the Deportation Data Project that confirmed the extended detainments.

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On July 24, EMS responded to a call at the facility, where the emergency responders witnessed and confirmed that the facility was being used for detainment. To Hanlon and the council, that amounted to firmer evidence of zoning code violations.

“We had to wait until we had something that was tangible and actionable and defensible. And so it felt like we were not listening,” Mayor Pro Tem Erin Zalinski said. “What felt like negligence was just trying to be purposeful.”

The city will now seek an injunction from a court stating that the landlord and anybody they lease to is not allowed to engage in the use of the building for detention.

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At issue is the well-established interpretation of the federal government’s legal supremacy over local governments and their laws. A similar legal argument is underway in Portland, Oregon.

Hanlon’s recommendation to pursue action solely against the property owner in state court, rather than the federal agencies themselves, may give the city a higher chance of success and a path to avoid arguing against the federal government’s supremacy.