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All Americans should be horrified by what the Trump administration is doing: scooping people up and sending them to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison without any due process or legal prosecution. In Colorado we are caught in the administration's crosshairs. Monique Sherman, RMIAN Detention Program Managing Attorney, said "People from our community keep disappearing--be it raids, flights to Guantánamo, or middle of the night transfers to a torture prison in El Salvador. These acts of terror must stop. Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network is proud to stand alongside our clients and partners at the ACLU in an attempt to thwart ICE's plans to tear more families apart."
RMIAN is outraged and taking action. On Saturday, RMIAN, together with the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado filed a class petition for writ of habeas corpus on behalf of two named plaintiffs and a proposed class challenging the application of the Alien Enemies Act to Venezuelans DHS claims are members of Tren de Aragua here in Colorado. Early this week, Judge Charlotte Sweeney issued an emergency restraining order preventing the petitioners and others in the proposed class from being removed from Colorado pending further court order. The initial hearing to extend protections is on Monday, April 21, 2025 at 9am.
The petitioners in the case are two Venezuelan men in immigration custody in Aurora, Colorado who are at risk of imminent removal under the President’s Proclamation—signed in secret on March 14, 2025, and published the next day—invoking the Alien Enemies Act (“AEA”). The AEA is a wartime measure that has been used only three times in our Nation’s history: the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.
The AEA applies where the United States is in a “declared war” with a “foreign nation or government,” or there is threat of an “invasion.” The United States is not at war. And it is certainly not at war with Venezuela. Our clients are young men from Venezuela facing unfounded allegations of membership in a gang. They have families here in Colorado, including young children. They should not have the AEA invoked against them.
Yet, the government has already sent flights of people from our community to a Salvadoran prison without ever offering independent review of that decision. People were disappeared under darkness and it is unclear when, if ever, they will return.
RMIAN along with our partners at the the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado brought this case, D.B.U. et al v. Trump, to protect our clients and others who are similarly situated from having the AEA invoked against them as well as others facing a similar fate.
RMIAN has a long-standing and almost daily presence at the Aurora Detention Facility. In addition to the two petitioners in this case, we work with many clients that are fearful of being ripped from their lives and disappeared to CECOT. These two very brave men have chosen to stand up to the administration and not only fight for their own case, but to help protect the rights of so many others who may face the same fate.
At a time when the stakes are higher than ever, and attorneys are helping to call out the immoral, unlawful acts of the administration, the administration is cutting funding in hopes of removing any objections to their actions. Our community needs us. Help us continue our work at the Aurora Detention Center and in the broader community, to stand up for those whose voices are being silenced, to defend the rights of the most vulnerable, and to ensure that justice is a reality.
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