ICE Continues to Violate Court Orders, Brutalize Innocent People in Colorado

DENVER — The ACLU of Colorado filed a new brief in the District Court of Colorado on August 26, 2026, highlighting Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) continued and repeated violations of court orders and federal law when conducting warrantless arrests. According to the filing, ICE officers continue to make warrantless arrests without determining an individual’s flight risk, have failed to produce sufficient court-mandated documents about these arrests, and have conducted arrests violently and brutally, with ICE officers smashing windows, beating people, and handcuffing them so tightly that their wrists bleed.

“ICE continues to act with reckless disregard for both the law and public safety,” said Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado legal director. “In their ongoing violations of court orders, ICE officers leave behind a trail of injury and terror. This agency is out of control, and the community must continue to raise their voices in protest.”

In the case of eighteen-year-old Daniel, ICE officers arrested him while he was a passenger in a car parked outside of a 7-Eleven convenience store. Officers pulled at least one weapon, smashed a window, and assaulted the teenager. Daniel suffered a broken wrist, a laceration to his hand, and multiple cuts on his forehead and face. His right eye was swollen shut for days afterwards. When Daniel was taken to the hospital, ICE prevented a community member from seeing or speaking to him and denied him the right to make a phone call, telling him that nobody was supposed to know where he was. Arrest records show that ICE agents did not know who Daniel was prior to his arrest, nor did they determine his flight risk.

In another instance, ICE officers handcuffed another eighteen-year-old, punched him in the face, marched him down three flights of stairs, and put him in an ICE vehicle without even asking for his name. Once again, the agency insisted that this arrest was done pursuant to a warrant, despite the arresting officer not knowing who he had arrested until after the eighteen-year-old was handcuffed.

In a third account, ICE officers showed a man a deficient warrant through a car window that identified someone else. ICE agents ignored him when he said he was not identified in the warrant and proceeded to break his car window, drag him out of the car, and handcuff him so tightly that his wrists bled. ICE officers did not ask any questions to evaluate flight risk and did not identify him until he was held at the ICE field office in Colorado Springs.

“The record shows both the nature and gravity of these violations.” said Conor Gleason, ACLU of Colorado immigrants’ rights attorney. “Our filing proves what Colorado’s immigrant communities have known for far too long: ICE acts as if the law does not apply to them. But it does and we will continue to hold them accountable.”

The ACLU of Colorado and other advocates sued ICE in a class-action lawsuit in October 2025 after federal agents conducted warrantless arrests without determining someone’s flight risk, in violation of federal law. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in November 2025, forbidding ICE agents from making warrantless arrests without determining someone’s flight risk. The ACLU of Colorado later filed a motion to enforce the injunction after court-ordered documents revealed ICE continued to make warrantless arrests in violation of the injunction. The judge held a two-day hearing in March 2026. In May 2026, the judge ruled that ICE continued to violate court orders, required the agency to produce additional documents about its arrests, and enjoined agents from making arrests until officers were trained on how to lawfully conduct warrantless arrests.