Charges Dropped for Legal Observer Detained at Denver Immigration Court

DENVER — All charges were dismissed today for a legal observer that was detained, handcuffed, and cited at Denver Immigration Court after witnessing the arrest of an immigrant father on June 17, 2025. Immigration advocates, including the ACLU of Colorado, criticized the charges as baseless and intended to intimidate members of the public.

“We are pleased to see that these baseless and ludicrous charges have been dismissed,” said Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado legal director. “They never should have been brought in the first place and were a transparent attempt to intimidate observers and keep the public from learning what is happening in our immigration courts. Legal observers and other members of the public are essential for the functioning of our democracy. Without them, the public may never know what ICE and the government are doing to our immigrant neighbors.”

Denver Immigration Court, however, has implemented policies that have impeded public access to court proceedings. Court staff have denied entry to legal observers, prevented attorneys from advising clients, interrogated attorneys about their relationships with specific people, and prohibited legal observers from taking notes regarding public information, among other measures. ACLU of Colorado sent a letter to Denver Immigration Court on July 3, 2025, expressing concerns that these policies infringe on longstanding constitutional principles and federal policies.

“Immigration courts across the country have become sites of lawlessness, fear, and physical violence,” said Emma Mclean-Riggs, ACLU of Colorado senior staff attorney. “Immigration agents are grabbing people attending their court hearings in hallways and bathrooms, taking them from their families. Court staff have harassed legal observers, lawfully present to observe public proceedings. The public must continue to be able to, at the very least, bear witness to the government’s conduct.”

“I watched in horror as a father, who was walking out of a courtroom after attending his court hearing, was injured when multiple immigration agents slammed him into a counter — all in front of his young child. Masked people pulled his wife by her hair as she screamed and cried for them to let her husband go,” said Robin, a pseudonym for the legal observer who does not wish to be identified due to safety concerns. “While I watched this gruesome attack, a federal officer grabbed me from behind and slammed me against a wall. Court observers will not allow these repressive tactics to intimidate us. We will continue to observe public proceedings. We will not abandon immigrants to be abused without witness or protest.”