Denver Immigration: 18 Detainees Re-arrested After Release

At least 18 people were re-arrested by federal agents between late October and early November, according to government attorneys who appeared in Denver on Monday. This number is four higher than the figure officials initially disclosed last week. The re-arrests occurred as individuals were being released from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora, Colorado.

Nathan Rasper, the acting director for the Denver field office, testified that he ordered his staff to serve corrected paperwork on the detainees as they were led out. At that moment, agents would march the individuals back inside. Rasper said he believed this procedure would fix technical errors in the case files. He stated he did not intend to violate court orders that had mandated the releases.

Federal judges in Colorado have repeatedly challenged these actions. U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte Sweeney summoned Rasper to explain the policy after a man she ordered released was re-arrested in late October. Sweeney described the practice as instilling a new level of fear at the facility that she finds inappropriate. She noted that she has received notes from detainees who are terrified.

During the hearing, Sweeney asked if the policy was still active. Rasper and Kevin Traskos, the civil division chief for the U.S. Attorney's Office, confirmed it had ceased. Traskos acknowledged that at least one more person was re-arrested after Sweeney's initial hearing last week. Sweeney said she will soon issue an order determining whether to hold the government in contempt for its actions.

Other judges have expressed similar concerns. U.S. District Judge Nina Wang said last week that ICE repeatedly violated her release orders by requiring immigrants to wear GPS monitors. She directed government attorneys to explain why they should not be held in contempt. In Minnesota, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan threatened to sanction the agency after a similar re-arrest occurred there last month.

Department of Homeland Security officials initially defended the practice. An unnamed representative told The Denver Post last week that ICE could re-arrest people even if a judge ordered their release. Traskos distanced his office from that statement on Monday. He said his team had not been provided with the statement before it was submitted. Rasper said he did not know who authored the remark.

Legal representatives for immigrants argued that the re-arrests were not an isolated incident. Liz Jordan from the University of Denver and Tim Macdonald, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, appeared in court to lodge additional arguments. Macdonald is part of a lawsuit challenging warrantless arrests. U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson previously ruled that many ICE arrests violated the law and found that the agency continued to illegally detain people after that ruling.

Jordan told Sweeney that the court should not treat the re-arrests as an accident. She emphasized that 18 people in this district alone experienced the practice. Sweeney asked Rasper if he knew who wrote the DHS statement defending the policy. He said he did not. Rasper also confirmed that no one within ICE had ordered him to implement the re-arrest policy.

The hearing took place in a packed Denver courtroom. Attorneys, activists, and government officials attended the session. Sweeney has referenced similar issues in other courtrooms. She said she would proceed with contempt proceedings if the government does not address the fear created by the re-arrest policy. The next step is for Sweeney to issue her formal order on the contempt matter.