Category Archives: End Immigration Detainers

DENVER – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers operate without meaningful accountability or oversight. One facility in particular — the Aurora Contract Detention Facility (ACDF), operated by the for-profit prison company, The GEO Group, Inc. — violates the basic human rights of its mainly asylum-seeking detainees through medical neglect and abuse, which has led to at least two deaths, according to a report released today by the ACLU of Colorado. Cashing in.... | Read More

DENVER – The ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit this morning seeking previously requested records related to the arrest, detention, and subsequent death of Kamyar Samimi, an Iranian man who died on December 2, 2017 while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility, a for-profit detention center operated by GEO Group, Inc. Mr. Samimi came to the United States as a student in 1976 and became a Legal Permanent Resident in 1978. ICE agents.... | Read More

September 18, 2014 DENVER – All of Colorado’s county jails have now confirmed to the ACLU of Colorado that they no longer honor detainer requests from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE routinely issues detainer requests, or “ICE holds,” to local jails.  They ask sheriffs to continue holding a person in jail for up to five days past the time when the person would otherwise be released, so that ICE can decide whether to take that person into federal custody for a.... | Read More

July 2, 2014 DENVER –More than half of Colorado’s 64 sheriffs have confirmed to the ACLU of Colorado that they no longer detain people past their release at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The ACLU has advocated to sheriffs since April that they act without legal authority, and face legal liability, if they rely on detainer requests from ICE as a basis to hold prisoners who would otherwise be released. Last week, following a $30k settlement between Arapahoe.... | Read More

6/19/14 DENVER – Arapahoe County has agreed to pay $30,000 to Claudia Valdez, a domestic violence victim who called police for help, was arrested herself, and then held in the Arapahoe County Jail at the request of federal immigration authorities for three days after a judge had ordered her release. Valdez called police in July 2012, when a domestic dispute with her husband turned physical.  When law enforcement arrived on the scene, they arrested Valdez and took her to jail.  After her.... | Read More

The evening of June 28, 2012, Claudia Valdez-Sandoval called the police for help. She had been fighting with her husband. The fight had turned physical, and she feared for the safety of herself and her three young children. So, she ran to her neighbor’s house with her kids in tow and asked her neighbor to call the police for help. Arapahoe County law enforcement arrived and ended up arresting Claudia on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge, which was dismissed soon afterwards. Claudia had.... | Read More

DENVER - 4/30 - Earlier today, Denver County Sheriff Gary Wilson announced that Denver will join the growing number of Colorado counties that have decided over the last two days to stop honoring immigration detainers from federal authorities that request that a person be held in jail for up to six days after they would otherwise be released. Yesterday, the ACLU of Colorado sent letters to every sheriff in the state calling into question the legal authority under Colorado state law to detain people.... | Read More

ACLU will announce additional counties that will reject ICE requests to detain residents without criminal warrants or legal justification April 30, 2014 DENVER – Several counties around the state have announced over the last 48 hours that they will stop honoring immigration detainers from federal authorities that request that a person be held in jail for 48 hours or longer after they would otherwise be released. Yesterday, the ACLU of Colorado sent letters to every sheriff in the state.... | Read More