ICE must retrain officers who make arrests in Colorado, federal judge rules

Key Points:

• A federal judge in Denver ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) must retrain its arresting officers in Colorado due to violations of a prior order restricting warrantless arrests without individualized flight risk assessments.
• The judge found ICE agents continued making warrantless arrests without proper probable cause determinations, violating federal law and a preliminary injunction issued in November protecting immigrants arrested without warrants.
• ICE is required to improve documentation of warrantless arrests, share more information with immigrant attorneys, and cover attorneys' fees, with a new training program mandated within two weeks and all relevant officers trained within 45 days.
• The ruling stems from a lawsuit by immigration lawyers challenging the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy, highlighting cases like Caroline Dias Goncalves and Dionisio Castillo, who were arrested without warrants despite having no criminal history.
• ICE must provide monthly reports to immigrant lawyers detailing trained officers, training materials, and warrantless arrests, while the judge refrained from ruling on the legality of ICE’s “field warrants” practice.