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Tag: Immigration Detention

Colorado College Awards Credit for Progressive Activism Internships
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Local

Colorado College Awards Credit for Progressive Activism Internships

By Mike Krause | Complete Colorado COLORADO SPRINGS—Colorado College is putting a price tag on political activism — or rather, waiving it for its own students — by offering academic credit to undergraduates who spend the summer, among other offerings, working to “shut down immigration detention centers.” The Colorado Springs-based private liberal arts school’s “Social Action Institute” runs a summer internship pairing students with left-of-center advocacy groups from June 11 through July 28. One of the three tracks offered lets students assist attorneys representing immigration detainees while simultaneously doing “advocacy and organizing work” toward closing the facilities where those same clients are held.  Students earn .25 credits towards graduation fo...
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Tenth Circuit strikes down DOJ detention theory, ruling affects Colorado courts
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Tenth Circuit strikes down DOJ detention theory, ruling affects Colorado courts

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Rigoberto Santillan Quiroz entered the United States without inspection in 2006.  ICE arrested him at a traffic stop on November 2, 2025 and initiated removal proceedings on the ground that he entered without admission or parole.  His federal habeas petition, filed in the Western District of Oklahoma, became Quiroz v. Mullin.  On June 30, the Tenth Circuit ruled in his favor, covering six states and striking down the theory behind 722 such petitions filed in Colorado in 2026 through June 15. What the court decided Judges Federico, Bacharach, and Ebel produced a 48-page unanimous opinion, with Federico authoring.  The government's theory rested on §1225(b)(2)(A) of the Immigration and National...
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ICE detention cases are surging in Colorado. The DOJ keeps losing the legal fight.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

ICE detention cases are surging in Colorado. The DOJ keeps losing the legal fight.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Five people filed habeas corpus petitions challenging their Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention in all of Colorado federal court in 2024. One hundred five filed in 2025. Through June 15th of this year, 722 have filed, and the pace has held at more than 150 a month since March. Every one of those cases carries attorney fee exposure when the government loses. Of the cases resolved on the core detention question so far — spanning late 2025 and 2026 — Colorado judges granted the petition 248 times. Only one judge, Chief Judge Daniel Domenico, has ruled for the government on the merits — and he has done so repeatedly. And the same Justice Department that keeps losing keeps defending the legal theory behind the cases....
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Aurora ICE Facility Operator Says Colorado Overstepped Authority With New ICE Inspection Law
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Aurora ICE Facility Operator Says Colorado Overstepped Authority With New ICE Inspection Law

By: Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics The private prison company that operates the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Aurora has filed a lawsuit against Colorado to stop the enforcement of a new law requiring additional health and safety inspections of immigration detention facilities. The lawsuit from Geo Group, filed Monday in Denver District Court, lists Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser as the plaintiff, along with Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment executive director Jill Hunsaker Ryan, the department’s environmental health and sustainability director Jeff Lawrence, and Adams County Health Department executive director Kelly Weidenbach. Earlier this year, the Adams County Health Department conducted an on-site investigatio...
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Lone Colorado Judge Sides With Government On Immigration Custody Rules
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Lone Colorado Judge Sides With Government On Immigration Custody Rules

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics Chief Judge Daniel D. Domenico broke with his peers on Colorado’s U.S. District Court last week in siding with the government’s argument about the broad scope of its immigration detention authority. In an April 15 order finding that a man was properly in custody without a bond hearing, Domenico acknowledged his view is the outlier locally and nationally. “The majority of district courts, including all of the judges in this District who have addressed the issue, have found that detention of noncitizens similar to the petitioner under (the mandatory detention provision) is improper,” wrote Domenico, a first-term appointee of President Donald Trump. “There are legitimate arguments on both sides.” Beginning last year, ...
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High Court Declines Sovereign Immunity Shortcut For Private Prison Firm In Colorado Case
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DENVER7, Approved, State

High Court Declines Sovereign Immunity Shortcut For Private Prison Firm In Colorado Case

By The Associated Press | Denver7 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled against a private prison company facing a lawsuit alleging immigration detainees were forced to work and paid only $1 a day in Colorado. The unanimous ruling is a procedural defeat for the GEO Group, but it's not a final decision. The company is fighting a lawsuit from 2014 alleging detainees in Aurora had to perform unpaid janitorial work and other jobs for little pay to supplement meager meals. GEO defended its practices and argued that the case should be tossed out because it's immune from lawsuits as a government contractor. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT DENVER7
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Colorado Federal Judges Hold Line On Immigration Detention Limits Despite Fifth Circuit Ruling
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Federal Judges Hold Line On Immigration Detention Limits Despite Fifth Circuit Ruling

By Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics Colorado’s federal judges are maintaining their view that the government’s assertion of broad immigration detention authority is unlawful, casting aside a recent appellate decision to the contrary as “unpersuasive” and out of step with the predominant interpretation by the judiciary. However, several judges are speaking out forcefully about the behavior from the government, including missed deadlines, violations of orders, and potential constitutional problems. Beginning last year, a wave of “habeas corpus” cases flooded Colorado’s U.S. District Court, pushing annual civil filings to more than 4,000 for seemingly the first time. Largely, the petitions challenging immigration detention stem from the federal government’s interpr...
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