Federal Judge Rules ICE Violated Court Order, Requires More Oversight and Training

DENVER — A Colorado District Court judge ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers “materially violated” both the court’s own preliminary injunction order and federal law by continuing to make unlawful warrantless arrests in Colorado. The 60-page decision, issued May 12, 2026, now orders ICE to develop and conduct additional training within 45 days on how to make arrests that comply with federal law and the court’s preliminary injunction. ICE agents are prohibited from conducting warrantless arrests if they fail to complete this training within the court’s timeframe. In addition, any agents hired after May 12 cannot make warrantless arrests until they have undergone this training.

“This is a profoundly important decision for the rule of law and the people of Colorado,” said Tim Macdonald, legal director for the ACLU of Colorado. “The court made clear that ICE is not above the law and cannot continue to violate the law. The decision ensures that we can monitor ICE’s behavior going forward and continue to work to prevent unlawful warrantless arrests across the state.”

In a two-day hearing beginning on March 10, 2026, ACLU of Colorado attorneys and cooperating counsel from the Meyer Law Office presented evidence about ICE’s noncompliance with a previous preliminary injunction issued by the same court. ACLU attorneys also cross-examined ICE agents, where officers and local ICE leadership admitted under oath that they had not received adequate training or communication about the court order. Agents often struggled to answer basic questions about the court order. Corroborating internal ICE documents provided to the ACLU of Colorado, ICE agents also admitted that they had continued to arrest people without determining if they posed a flight risk. The ACLU of Colorado demonstrated that the warrantless arrests included people taken from their U.S. citizen children, people with no criminal history, longtime residents with extensive employment histories, and asylum seekers complying with legal processes — all of whom did not present a flight risk.

The Colorado District Court granted a preliminary injunction in November 2025 that enjoined federal agents from conducting warrantless arrests without determining a person’s flight risk and required ICE to provide the ACLU of Colorado with documents to assess compliance. Federal law requires that ICE agents must make individualized determinations of flight risk and have probable cause that someone is in the country in violation of immigration laws prior to making a warrantless arrest.

“The Court’s decision convincingly demonstrates that ICE agents continue to engage in material violations of the Court’s order and federal law to unlawfully arrest members of our community,” said Hans Meyer of the Meyer Law Office.

In addition to conducting appropriate training for ICE agents, ICE must provide new training materials and communications the agency plans to use with its officers to ensure compliance with both the preliminary injunction and the law. ICE must now also provide additional documentation, including I-213 forms issued for both warrantless arrests and arrests with “field warrants” issued after “an encounter began.” ICE must also produce a list of who was arrested, their A-number, country of origin, date of arrest, and whether the arrest was warrantless or pursuant to a warrant.

In addition to Macdonald and Meyer, the legal team includes ACLU of Colorado staff attorneys Sara Neel, Emma Mclean-Riggs, Annie Kurtz, and Scott Medlock.