The American Civil Liberties Union and two Colorado law firms sued federal immigration officials Thursday in an effort to stop what the legal groups call the agency’s “indiscriminate stops and arrests” across the state.
The lawsuit brought in federal court in Colorado alleges that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are arresting and detaining people because of their skin color, accent or perceived nationality to fulfill arrest quotas set by the Trump administration without determining probable cause and flight risk.
The firms are bringing the lawsuit on behalf of four people, including Caroline Dias Goncalves, a 19-year-old University of Utah student who was brought to the U.S. as a child. ICE arrested Dias Goncalves in June after a Mesa County Sheriff deputy pulled her over in Fruita and asked about her accent and immigration status. She spent 15 days in ICE’s Aurora detention center.
“Our state’s 169,000 undocumented immigrants, and hundreds of thousands more Latine Coloradans, now live in fear and at daily risk because of federal immigration agents’ indiscriminate practices,” the lawsuit said. “ICE’s arrest scheme is tearing families apart and terrorizing communities.”
The lawsuit names Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Acting Director of ICE Todd Lyons and Director of ICE’s Denver Field Office Robert Guadian as defendants.
ICE’s Denver Field Office referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ICE agents must have probable cause to believe the person they are arresting is living in the U.S. in violation of immigration laws and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs in the case say they were arrested indiscriminately. All reported experiencing physical injuries, pain and hunger during their arrests or while in detention, according to the lawsuit.
Refugio Ramirez Ovando is a 43-year-old father and lawful permanent resident who has lived in Colorado for 20 years and is the father of four U.S. citizen children. ICE agents in unmarked cars pulled him over in May when he was on his way to work in Grand Junction at the construction concrete company where he has worked for 18 years. ICE held him at the detention center in Aurora for more than 90 days, according to the lawsuit.
A 36-year-old asylum seeker identified in the lawsuit as J.S.T. has lived in Colorado for 15 years. On Feb. 5, ICE agents raided the Whispering Pines Apartments complex, where he had lived for seven years. At the time, J.S.T. was leaving the apartment parking lot to drive to his job at a restaurant and grocery store when ICE agents arrested him. He spent four weeks at the Aurora detention center and lost his home as a result, according to the lawsuit.
That same day ICE agents conducted raids in at least seven apartment complexes and communities across Denver, Aurora, and Thornton, the lawsuit said. At some apartments, ICE agents knocked on every door, the lawsuit alleges, asking tenants to provide identification without a warrant.
A 32-year-old father and construction business owner identified in the lawsuit as G.R.R. has lived in the U.S. for 11 years. In April, ICE agents raided a nightclub in Colorado Springs, where the lawsuit said G.R.R. was waiting as a designated driver for a friend. G.R.R. spent seven weeks at the Aurora detention center, according to the lawsuit.
“Plaintiffs and their families were devastated by the unlawful captures and now live every day in a heightened state of fear of again being separated,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to consider the plaintiffs as representatives of a class of all people in Colorado who have been arrested since Jan. 20, 2025, or will be arrested without a warrant and without “a pre-arrest, individualized assessment of probable cause that the person poses a flight risk.”
The lawsuit describes the similar experience of many other people whom ICE has arrested since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
Trump vowed during his presidential campaign to deport “vicious and bloodthirsty criminals,” but also promised to execute “the largest deportation program in American history.” The resulting roundups of immigrants working in fields, attending court hearings or walking in their neighborhoods have included those with work permits, permanent residency cards and even U.S. citizenship.
In May, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said, “we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day” after reports from other news outlets that Miller and Noem had set the daily arrest quota. The administration later disavowed the quota after running into questions from federal judges about its constitutionality.
Immigration arrests quadrupled in Colorado between Jan. 20 and June 26 of this year compared with the same period last year, according to a Colorado Sun review of ICE data obtained and published by the Deportation Data Project, with a significant shift in who is being targeted. Most people arrested by ICE agents in Colorado between Jan. 20 and June 26 of this year had no criminal convictions, according to data obtained from the agency.
