At least eight people detained at Denver immigration court as ICE presence increases, advocates say

At least eight people — six adults and two children — have been detained at Denver’s federal immigration court in the last week as authorities have stepped up their presence, advocates said Thursday.

Volunteers at the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker social justice organization, tallied at least eight people who were picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at the immigration court inside the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse downtown.

The increased presence of immigration officers is a tactic linked to a larger strategy by President Donald Trump’s administration to help carry out its proposed mass deportations of immigrants who are in the country illegally.

Those detainees included a toddler and a 6-year-old child, said AFSC Denver program director Jennifer Piper. But she was not sure how many people were detained in total, she added, because her organization was initially unaware that ICE entered and exited the building through its garage in unmarked vehicles with tinted windows.

She spoke to a crowd of more than 30 people on Thursday afternoon outside the courthouse during a news conference called by immigrant rights advocates to provide updates on the latest ICE activity. As passerby on lunch break walked along the sidewalk, attendees stood holding pro-immigrant signs, including one that read: “ICE out of our court now!”

ICE didn’t respond Thursday afternoon to a request to confirm how many people had been detained at the courthouse since late last week and to provide information on why they were picked up.

The Denver Post first reported about ICE arrests at Denver Immigration Court on May 30, after a family of three was detained by federal officers. According to Emily Brock, the deputy managing attorney at the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, the family’s removal case had been dismissed by the judge just before the three members’ detentions.

In Colorado, ICE officers are prohibited from making civil arrests in or around state courthouses. However, federal courts aren’t governed by that state law passed in 2020.

AFSC began its court watch on May 27, with volunteers stationed there throughout the day. Piper said they observed ICE agents in plainclothes on the third and eighth floors of the building. Three vans from the GEO Group — a private prison company in charge of the ICE facility in Aurora — were standing by.

Piper was unsure where those detainees were taken. She argued that none of the facilities in Colorado could accommodate migrant children.

“We don’t know where they are,” Piper said. “We don’t know where these migrant children are.”

She said her group also saw ICE officers attempt to detain six African immigrants, but a lawyer and organization volunteers were able to prevent their arrests. She noted that people represented by attorneys fared better during such enforcement actions because they had legal representation to advocate for them.