State law “protects an individual from civil arrest while the person is present at a courthouse or on its environs, or while going to, attending, or coming from a court proceeding.”
But reports indicate federal immigration enforcement may not be following this law – including in Colorado Springs.
The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC), a statewide coalition of organizations that advocate for fair and humane immigration policies, said its members are aware of an upward trend in courthouse-related arrest reports.
“We’ve been hearing growing reports … of people being picked up by ICE at courthouses. We are especially concerned about rising cases in El Paso County, where multiple reports have documented immigrants being taken into custody immediately after leaving the courthouse,” CIRC said in a statement to the Pikes Peak Bulletin. CIRC did not provide numbers of arrests.
The Bulletin recently received a firsthand account of such an arrest recorded by the Colorado Rapid Response Network (CORRN) – a statewide hotline that verifies reports of ICE activity and offers legal and humanitarian resources.
The Bulletin has chosen to use only the initials of the persons involved due to credible concerns of retaliation.
OB told CORRN that she and her boyfriend, AH, were driving away from the El Paso County courthouse in late February of this year when they were pulled over by ICE officers and AH was taken into custody. OB believed they were followed from the courthouse.
AH came to the United States from Venezuela in 2022 and was granted immigration parole at that time. The Department of Homeland Security grants parole to persons “temporarily for urgent humanitarian reasons.”
After her boyfriend’s arrest, OB was connected with CORRN.
“They said [the arrest] was because of the DUI incident … but he hasn’t pleaded guilty,” OB told a CORRN volunteer who translated her response from Spanish into English. “That case is still open, and there is evidence that he wasn’t driving that night.”
“We’ve been in a relationship since June 2024, and we only have each other,” OB told CORRN. “We don’t have any family here, we are all alone. I met him here. I have been in the United States since February 2024. I entered the United States through the CBP One program. AH has been in the United States since September 11, 2022. He entered through Ciudad Juarez via the bridge and was detained by ICE in El Paso for a day and was given parole orders.”
After his arrest, AH was taken to the Aurora ICE Processing Center, also known as the Denver Contract Detention Facility, contracted to the GEO Group, a private and for-profit prison corporation. He was held there for about a month. In early April, the ICE detainee locator showed he had been moved to the Florence Service Processing Center in Florence, Arizona. A detainee locator check on April 14 showed he was no longer in the ICE tracking system – almost certainly because he was deported, though the Bulletin was unable to confirm.
“I no longer feel safe walking down the street; I am afraid of being detained without any justification,” AH told CORRN.
The Bulletin reported a very similar story in January, “Member of prominent Pueblo family self-deports after ICE arrest.” That article focused on José Guadalupe Alejo Lamberto, a Mexican immigrant who married into the large and diverse Autobee family, descended from Charles Autobee who settled in the area in the mid-1800s. His wife, Cristiana Alejo Lamberto, video recorded his arrest outside the El Paso County Courthouse following an initial appearance for an alleged DUI.
Alejo Lamberto’s DUI case was also never litigated; he chose to self-deport to avoid remaining detained at the Denver Contract Detention Facility and possibly being transferred to an out-of-state detention center, a frequent ICE practice. National news reports detail lawsuits and statements from human rights organizations on issues with detainee transfers including increased difficulty in communicating with family or legal counsel and punitive conditions.
ICE did not respond to the Bulletin’s questions for the Alejo Lamberto story, including how ICE knew Alejo Lamberto would be at the courthouse at that time.
The Denver Post published an article on April 12 about another Colorado Springs man who was arrested by ICE after leaving the courthouse – where his case involving a dog bite had been dismissed. He believed he was followed by ICE from the courthouse.
“This isn’t just happening here in Colorado; it’s happening across the country,” CIRC said. “What’s especially alarming is that some of these individuals are crime victims who were simply trying to report what happened to them.
“As a result, many immigrant victims now fear that any interaction with law enforcement could lead to detention or deportation. That fear makes all of our communities and neighborhoods less safe … We will continue to document cases, inform people of their rights, and hold local law enforcement accountable to upholding Colorado law.”
ICE allows civil immigration enforcement to occur around courthouses – but not if it violates state law.
ICE’s policy states, “ICE officers or agents may conduct civil immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe the targeted alien(s) is or will be present at a specific location, and where such action is not precluded by laws imposed by the jurisdiction in which the civil immigration enforcement action will take place.”
A spokesperson for the Fourth Judicial District said, “This office is unaware of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement action being conducted near the courthouse … This office prosecutes state-level crimes that occur within the 4th Judicial District (El Paso and Teller counties). We do not have controlling authority over any federal law enforcement agency, including the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
The spokesperson added that the Fourth Judicial District does not have jurisdiction; per state statute, it is the attorney general who may bring civil action in such cases.
The Bulletin reached out to the Colorado Attorney General’s office and asked if that office was aware of these reports, and if it deemed them credible. In response, the Bulletin received the following statement from a spokesperson:
“Nobody is above the law, including federal agents such as ICE or border patrol. The attorney general’s office encourages residents to file complaints about federal agent misconduct at https://coag.gov/file-complaint/. Information shared will assist the Colorado Department of Law in ensuring federal accountability, documenting concerns, and identifying potential patterns of misconduct by federal agents.”
