A federal judge in Denver has ordered ICE’s local field office director to appear in court Monday as part of an inquiry into whether immigration agents are defying judicial release orders by re-arresting people almost immediately after they are freed.
U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney, appointed by President Biden, summoned Nathan Rasper, ICE’s Denver field office director, following concerns raised in at least 14 cases in Colorado where detainees were taken back into custody shortly after courts ordered their release. In one instance, a re-arrest reportedly occurred outside a detention facility.
The Department of Homeland Security says ICE has done nothing wrong. In a statement to Fox News Digital, DHS argued that a judge’s release order does not permanently protect someone from immigration enforcement.
“When an illegal alien is ordered released by a judge, that does not immunize the alien from immigration enforcement for all time,” DHS said. “ICE may seek to re-arrest the alien in a way that complies with the judicial decision. To suggest that ICE cannot do this is nothing short of sabotage.”
Judge Sweeney’s Nov. 5 order builds on an earlier directive requiring federal officials to identify every Colorado case since Oct. 27 in which ICE re-detained someone within 12 hours of a court-ordered release. Officials have since named 14 petitioners who were re-arrested after release, though their filing did not specify exactly when those re-arrests took place. Sweeney has now demanded precise dates and times for each release and re-arrest, along with any other cases of immediate re-detention she may not yet know about.
A Case That Sparked the Inquiry
The scrutiny traces back to Ramon Quintero Alvarez, who was released from immigration detention on Oct. 27 only to be taken back into ICE custody right away, according to a government filing. On Nov. 3, federal attorneys told the court they would not defend the legality of Alvarez’s continued detention.
That admission led Sweeney to hold a hearing on Nov. 4, where Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Soler and Kevin Traskos appeared alongside ICE Assistant Field Office Director Nichole Black, who testified under oath about what happened in Alvarez’s case.
At that hearing, Sweeney ordered Alvarez released again and barred ICE from re-detaining him unless the government could show, with clear and convincing evidence at a bond hearing, that he poses a flight risk or a danger to the public. She also raised broader questions about whether ICE was sidestepping her orders by releasing detainees only to immediately re-arrest them, which led to Monday’s follow-up hearing requiring Rasper’s appearance.
What’s Next
Government attorneys must hand over the additional case details Sweeney requested by 8 a.m. Monday, ahead of Rasper’s court appearance later that morning. It remains unclear whether Sweeney intends to pursue contempt proceedings against ICE officials, but the hearing could offer a clearer picture of how the agency has been handling court-ordered releases.
The Denver case is not an isolated one. Other Colorado federal judges appointed under President Biden, including U.S. District Judges Nina Wang and S. Kato Crews, are overseeing similar disputes involving immigration detention and court-ordered releases. Fox News Digital reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado for comment.
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