Judge Orders ICE to Retrain Colorado Officers Within 45 Days Over Warrantless Arrest Violations
Updated
Updated · The Colorado Sun · May 12
Judge Orders ICE to Retrain Colorado Officers Within 45 Days Over Warrantless Arrest Violations
12 articles · Updated · The Colorado Sun · May 12
A federal judge in Denver said ICE materially violated a prior injunction in Colorado and ordered the agency to create a compliant training program within two weeks, then train all officers authorized to make warrantless arrests within 45 days.
Judge R. Brooke Jackson found agents kept making warrantless arrests without individualized probable-cause determinations that a person was both undocumented and a flight risk, and said officers showed an inadequate understanding of the court’s rules.
The 60-page order also requires ICE to strengthen arrest documentation, hand monthly arrest and training records to immigrants’ lawyers, pay their attorney fees, and sideline any Colorado officer from warrantless arrests until trained.
The ruling follows a February challenge by immigration lawyers who said ICE ignored Jackson’s November injunction; at a March hearing, Denver officials admitted officers had not been trained even as the office was making 15 to 25 arrests a day.
Caught between policy and court orders, how can federal agents effectively enforce immigration law on the ground?
With courts repeatedly finding violations, can retraining alone truly reform federal law enforcement practices?