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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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A federal judge in Colorado ordered the Trump administration to immediately release a man who was arrested by immigration agents minutes after being freed from detention.
The judge accused the government of an "ongoing due process violation" and told officials they could face contempt proceedings if they detained him again without a hearing.
U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews said Edgardo Garcia Vargas was released pursuant to an earlier court order. However, he was "immediately confronted and arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before even leaving the detention facility grounds."
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"Once again, the cruelty appears to be the point," Crews, a Biden appointee, wrote in the November 3 order.
Newsweek has contacted ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, for comment and is awaiting responses.
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The dispute comes amid mounting tensions between the Trump administration and federal judges over its immigration crackdown. Courts are repeatedly challenging the government’s detention practices and, in some cases, accusing immigration authorities of failing to comply with judicial orders.
The administration has been carrying out a widespread deportation operation as it seeks to increase arrests and removals. Immigration arrests in Colorado have climbed in recent months, according to federal data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the Deportation Data Project. Arrests nearly doubled from 259 in March to 499 in July 2026. The state recorded 549 arrests in July 2025.
Crews said the government argued that, because Garcia Vargas had technically been released, the habeas relief ordered by the court had been carried out and the case should be closed despite his subsequent re-detention.
The judge rejected that argument and said Garcia Vargas had effectively remained in custody continuously since his original arrest. Ruling otherwise, he wrote, would render any habeas relief "meaningless" and "reward Respondents’ apparent gamesmanship."
"No person would have felt free to leave under these circumstances," Crews wrote.
Garcia Vargas had argued in his application for a writ of habeas corpus that his original arrest violated his due process rights because he was never presented with a warrant, according to the order.
A habeas petition asks a court to determine whether someone is being lawfully detained.
Crews said the government did not respond to the petition, so the court accepted Garcia Vargas’ due process claim as conceded.
The judge said Garcia Vargas’ re-detention "mere minutes after his purported release was no release at all" and instead constituted an ongoing violation of his due process rights.
Crews ordered Garcia Vargas immediately released and directed the administration to file a status report within three days confirming his release.
The judge also barred authorities from detaining Garcia Vargas again unless they first prove at a bond hearing that he is a flight risk or danger to the community. The government would bear the burden of proof, and Garcia Vargas would be allowed to have a lawyer present.
Crews said that another arrest without such a hearing could lead to contempt proceedings.
"Should Petitioner again be instantly rearrested without receiving the foregoing due process," he wrote, "Respondents shall appear in this Court for consideration of whether contempt proceedings are warranted."
Court filings name Juan Baltazar, warden of the Aurora Contract Detention Facility, David Venturella, acting ICE director, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in the case.
The ruling comes amid a separate legal battle over ICE's arrest practices in Colorado, where a federal judge has repeatedly found the agency violated court orders restricting warrantless arrests. In September, Judge R. Brooke Jackson said agents involved in two separate arrests should face sanctions, including one involving an 18-year-old who suffered a broken wrist and facial injuries. The government has appealed the underlying injunction, with oral arguments scheduled for November 16.
ICE has also been expanding its detention presence in Colorado. In September, Axios Denver reported that detention capacity in the state was poised to nearly double as the administration increased immigration enforcement.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and James Debens
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