A federal judge in Denver has ordered the release of a man who had been held for five months in Aurora’s detention center. The judge also ruled that federal immigration authorities’ new policy of denying bail to longtime, undocumented residents of the United States “likely violates federal law.”
The ruling, released Friday night, temporarily prohibits federal immigration authorities from deporting or transferring Nestor Gutierrez and other similar immigrants without legal status currently detained in Colorado.
U.S. District Court Judge Regina M. Rodriguez’s order appears to apply to detained immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for years and who, for more than two decades, would have been eligible to seek temporary release while their immigration cases are pending. Her order prevents transfers or deportations while the rest of the lawsuit continues.
## Background on the Policy Change
As immigration arrests have surged and detention centers have become more crowded, the Trump administration this year directed immigration courts to reinterpret longstanding federal law and stop granting bail hearings for longtime residents without legal status.
Immigration attorneys and advocates argue that the policy is designed to keep immigrants detained to encourage them either to request their own removal or to stop fighting their deportation orders.
During court proceedings in Aurora earlier this month, a Denver Post reporter observed several detainees requesting their own removal. Some had previously filed asylum claims or stated fears of returning to their home countries but chose to stop fighting their cases to end their detention.
## About Nestor Gutierrez
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Nestor Gutierrez, a native of El Salvador and married father of two, who has lived in the Denver area since 1999. He was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in May. A few weeks later, a judge said he was unable to consider bail for Gutierrez under the government’s new policy, and Gutierrez has been held in Aurora since that time.
In court filings, ICE argued that Gutierrez was not suffering “irreparable harm” from continued detention. Judge Rodriguez disagreed, in part citing Gutierrez’s role as his family’s “main financial provider.”
“What is unique to Mr. Gutierrez, and other noncitizens like him, is that he is being unlawfully detained without bond,” she wrote. “Even if Mr. Gutierrez is not ultimately successful in his efforts to avoid removal, the record here shows that if he had been provided with a bond hearing, he would have been granted a conditional release because he is unlikely to abscond or be a danger to the community. This would give him and his family time to prepare for their future, pending his possible removal.”
## Preventing Deportations and Transfers
Rodriguez’s order also essentially prevents ICE from circumventing the lawsuit by deporting detainees or transferring them to other facilities where there may be no legal challenge to the bail policy.
After Rodriguez ordered ICE to release Gutierrez in her Friday evening order, Gutierrez’s legal team traveled to the detention center. However, ICE initially refused to release him, according to Hans Meyer, one of Gutierrez’s attorneys. Gutierrez was finally released Saturday morning and will remain out of detention until he receives a bail hearing.
“The most important thing is that [the court] agreed with us that ICE’s interpretation of the law is incorrect and that people who entered the country without permission, once they’re here, are at least eligible to seek a bond,” Meyer said. He filed the lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado.
Representatives for ICE and the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment. An ICE spokesperson also did not return messages seeking comment about Gutierrez’s release.
## Broader Impact and Next Steps
This ruling joins a growing number of judicial orders nationwide rejecting the federal government’s efforts to deny bail hearings to undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for years. In her order, Judge Rodriguez noted that 36 courts nationwide have rejected a senior immigration court’s reinterpretation of immigration law, out of 39 that have considered it.
In Colorado, lawyers have filed several challenges to the policy, and at least one court has already ruled against it, according to Colorado Politics.
Meyer and the ACLU plan to return to court in mid-November to seek certification of the lawsuit as a class-action suit. Judge Rodriguez declined to certify the class in her Friday order, stating that she needs more information about how many immigrants are similarly situated to Gutierrez and would be included.
Meyer and the ACLU are asking the court to declare ICE’s policy illegal and to determine the appropriate remedies.
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https://www.denverpost.com/2025/10/20/colorado-immigration-ice-arrests-deportation/