DURANGO, Colo. — Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested, detained, and then separated a family on their way to school, including a father and two children, ages 12 and 15, at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Monday, October 27, 2025. Members of the family have pending asylum claims and have established deep ties to the community. According to the city of Durango, Durango police officers repeatedly asked federal agents to facilitate the release of the children to their mother, but federal agents refused to release them. Durango police officers then tried to conduct a welfare check following reports that one of the children was in distress and was suffering from abuse at the ICE facility where the children were being held. Again, federal agents denied the Durango police officers entry into the building. As of today, October 29, 2025, ACLU of Colorado volunteers and partners continue to try to gather information about where ICE is holding the family, but we believe that the 12-year-old and 15-year-old children remain detained by ICE and have been separated from their mother and father.
In response to the arrest, Durango residents mobilized to protest outside of the ICE facility. ACLU of Colorado has corroborated reports of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents bullying peaceful protesters, shoving them, using pepper spray mere inches from their eyes, and firing rubber bullets at them from close range. ACLU of Colorado volunteers and partners are on the ground and continue to gather information on DHS’ protest response.
The following statement can be attributed to Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado legal director:
“Once again, ICE has chosen to abuse its power to inflict terror on our communities. The arrest of a family on their way to a middle school is appalling. No one, and especially no child, should ever live in fear of a masked agent snatching them and taking them to an unknown location. This incident mobilized over a hundred Durango-area residents to protest in front of the ICE field office in Durango where they believed the children were being held. Like so many Coloradans, they are horrified at the rapid escalation of ICE’s lawlessness. DHS has inflamed the situation even further by using senselessly brutal tactics on peaceful protesters with disregard for their safety and wellbeing. This is unacceptable, and officers must be held accountable.
“While there is still a lot we don’t know, we can say this with certainty: ICE’s terror does not belong in our communities. We demand an independent investigation into the
arrest of the family, the separation of the children from their parents, and DHS’ violent response to protesters. There must be transparency. There must be oversight. There must be justice. We call on ICE to immediately release the 12-year-old and 15-year-old children to their mother and the community where they live. This administration cannot reinstitute its shameful family separation policies to terrorize children.”