Ramirez Ovando, et al. v. Noem, et al.

The ACLU of Colorado filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration to enjoin ICE from conducting warrantless arrests in Colorado without probable cause that the person is a flight risk and in the country without proper legal documentation.

Since the beginning of 2025, federal immigration agents have been ramping up their activity across the state of Colorado. Often wearing masks, body armor, and carrying lethal weapons, ICE agents have been terrorizing Latine communities, indiscriminately stopping and arresting people who are simply trying to go about their lives. The ACLU of Colorado argues in their lawsuit filed on October 9, 2025 that these practices violate the law, alleging it is illegal for ICE agents to arrest people without warrants or probable cause, and without considering a person’s legal status and if they are a flight risk.

The Plaintiffs bringing this case and their families have all experienced incredible trauma as a result of ICE’s illegal practices. Mr. Ramirez Ovando has lived in the United States for 20 years, has U.S. citizen children, and is an important member of his church community. Yet, he was pulled over on his way to work and detained even though ICE agents admitted they were searching for someone else at the time of his arrest. Ms. Dias Goncalves is a nursing student at the University of Utah, whose story was in the news after she was pulled over by a Mesa County Sheriff’s Office Investigator who illegally aided ICE in her unwarranted arrest. J.S.T. (some of the Plaintiffs are requesting to proceed under pseudonyms, as they fear retaliation from immigration agents) has been living in Colorado for 15 years and was arrested at his apartment complex while trying to go to work, where he’s been employed for ten years. G.R.R. has been living in the U.S. for over 10 years and was trying to pick up his friend from a nightclub when it was raided by hundreds of federal agents. These are just some of the stories of people who have been illegally targeted by ICE throughout Colorado.

The ACLU of Colorado is requesting that the court issue a preliminary injunction, forcing ICE to stop this illegal and discriminatory behavior. It’s clear that ICE’s policy and practice of effecting warrantless arrests without making individualized determinations of legal status and flight risk violates federal law and ICE’s own policies. Federal law requires that ICE agents must have probable cause to believe that an individual is both “in the United States in violation of any [immigration] law,” and the individual “is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest.” Agents must make individualized determinations for each person before conducting a warrantless arrest. This has been the law for decades: ICE officers simply cannot indiscriminately conduct warrantless arrests.

ACLU Press Releases:

"Immigrant Rights Advocates Sue Trump Administration over ICE's Unlawful Warrantless Arrests," October 9, 2025.

Media:

"Colorado Immigrants' Rights Groups Sue Trump Administration, ICE over alleged warrantless arrests," CBS News, October 9, 2025.

"Colorado Lawsuit Challenges Legal Basis of Many ICE Arrests of Immigrants This Year," The Denver Post, October 9, 2025.

"Colorado ACLU, Migrant Advocates Sue Trump Admin Over ICE Arrests," The Hill, October 9, 2025.

"ACLU of Colorado Claims ICE Is Making Illegal Arrests in New Lawsuit," Denver 7, October 9, 2025.

"ACLU, Colorado Law Firms Sue ICE to Stop 'Indiscriminate' Arrests and Detentions," The Colorado Sun, October 9, 2025.