A federal judge in Denver has ordered ICE’s local field office director to appear in court Monday to answer questions about whether the agency circumvented judicial release orders by re-arresting detainees almost immediately after they were freed.
U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney, appointed under President Biden, summoned Nathan Rasper as part of a broader inquiry covering 14 people who were taken back into ICE custody after being released. The agency’s conduct came under scrutiny after at least one person was reportedly re-arrested outside a detention facility, raising questions about whether release orders were being honored in any meaningful sense.
The Department of Homeland Security defends the practice, arguing that a judge’s order to release someone does not place that person permanently beyond the reach of 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 in a statement to Fox News Digital. “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.”
The Paper Trail
Judge Sweeney’s Nov. 5 order built on an earlier directive requiring the government to disclose every instance since Oct. 27 in which ICE re-detained someone in Colorado within 12 hours of a court-ordered release. Federal officials turned over the names of 14 petitioners who had been re-arrested, but did not specify the exact timing of those re-arrests. Sweeney has now demanded precise dates and times, along with any other individuals who were taken back into custody immediately after a court ordered their release.
The scrutiny intensified after a Nov. 4 hearing, where Sweeney pressed ICE on whether the agency was using brief, technical releases as a loophole to continue holding people the courts had ordered freed. At that hearing, she directed Rasper to appear personally at Monday’s follow-up session.
The Alvarez Case
Much of the inquiry traces back to Ramon Quintero Alvarez, who was released from immigration detention on Oct. 27 only to be immediately taken back into ICE custody, according to a government filing. Days later, on Nov. 3, federal attorneys told the court they would not even attempt to defend the legality of his continued detention.
That admission prompted Sweeney to call the Nov. 4 hearing, where Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Soler and Kevin Traskos appeared alongside ICE Assistant Field Office Director Nichole Black, who testified under oath about how Alvarez came to be re-arrested.
Sweeney ultimately ordered Alvarez released again and barred ICE from detaining him a second time unless the government could show, by clear and convincing evidence at a bond hearing, that he posed a flight risk or a danger to the community.
What Happens Monday
The government must hand over the additional timing records Sweeney requested by 8 a.m. Monday, just before Rasper is due in court. It remains unclear whether the judge intends to pursue contempt proceedings against ICE officials, but the hearing is expected to offer the clearest picture yet of how the agency has been handling court-ordered releases in Colorado.
The case is not isolated. ICE is facing similar legal challenges elsewhere in Colorado, where other Biden-appointed judges — including U.S. District Judges Nina Wang and S. Kato Crews — are overseeing disputes involving immigration detention and court-ordered releases.
Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado for comment.
